While first international flight to touch down in city is due on December 5, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) however has turned attention to fliers who came in November from abroad. A list of 101 persons was shared by officials at airport and civic officials have started knocking on their doors and screening them for coronavirus. On Friday, at a meeting held against backdrop of emergence of omicron variant of COVID-19, civic officials briefed Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari

about measures initiated by NMC and status of health machinery’s readiness.

Officials of Medical Health Department said they are reaching out to international fliers and collecting their samples and conduct RT-PCR test on spot. Passengers who test negative would be advised home isolation for a period of seven days, said Additional Municipal Commissioner Ram Joshi during the meeting. He said all travellers arriving by Air Arabia flight from Sharjah are going to be screened on December 5. All necessary formalities are complete, including setting-up of sample collection booth at the airport.

During the isolation period, teams of civic body would check on their health status on second, fourth and seventh day. In the meantime if report of anyone is found positive for COVID-19 then the said person would be sent to institutional quarantine.

Joshi said as per standing orders, all fliers have to produce RT-PCR negative report prior to 72 hours of flying, still all those arriving from abroad would be re-tested at Dr Babasaheb International Airport. In case any of the travellers report is positive then they would be referred to hospital for treatment.

Dr Sanjay Chilkar, Medical Health Officer, NMC, briefing the meeting said that about 450 beds are in readiness in civic body’s hospitals. Further 1100 oxygen cylinders are also available that can further cater to additional 500 beds, if required. Also there is ample stock of all required medicines. Further, additional manpower would be recruited and provided to Government hospitals like GMC, Mayo and AIIMS, when number of positive patients is around 50 per cent.

Mayor addressing the meeting said that there is nothing to fear about Omicron, though it is more contagious variant of COVID-19, people who have taken both doses of preventive vaccine need not have any worries. Citizens should not let down their guard and take all necessary precautions and urged all to complete the first and second dose of vaccine at the earliest.

Senior corporator Sunil Agrawal, Medical Officer Goverdhan Navghare and all Zonal Medical Health Officers were present at the meeting.

 

Vimala R, District Collector and Chairperson of District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), issued order in accordance with the latest guidelines of Central and State Governments, making seven-day institutional quarantine mandatory for air passengers coming to Nagpur district from high-risk countries. Vide the order, certain restrictions have been imposed on air passengers coming to the city from high-risk countries including South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.

The order has been issued in the wake of Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreading fast in various countries across the globe. The air passengers coming from the above-mentioned high-risk countries, as also the passengers who had visited any of these countries 15 days prior to arriving in Nagpur, have been categorised as ‘high-risk air passengers’.

As per the order, these passengers will be deplaned on priority and their RT-PCR test will be conducted. Nagpur airport authorities shall put in place a separate counter for their testing. These passengers will have to undergo seven-day institutional quarantine. On the seventh day, another RT-PCR test will be conducted of these patients. If any of these passengers tests positive for COVID-19, he/she shall be admitted to hospital for treatment. If the RT-PCR test report is negative for passengers at the end of seven-day institutional quarantine, they will have to remain in home quarantine for next seven days.

Further, the International air travellers will have to furnish details of travel in last 15 days in the format prescribed by Central and State Governments, on arrival. Nagpur airport authorities and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Immigration) will verify the information furnished by the passengers. The passengers furnishing wrong information will be liable for action under Disaster Management Act, 2005. Domestic air travellers will have to produce final certificate of full vaccination (both doses of COVID-19 vaccine) or RT-PCR negative report valid for 72 hours, before boarding the aircraft.

Vimala R issued another order on Friday to delegate powers to Municipal Commissioner of Nagpur, Chief Officers of various municipal councils and Nagar Panchayats, Tehsildars of respective tehsils to fix the maximum number of persons attending any event.

If the number of attendees is more than 1,000 for any convention/gathering, the organisers will have to inform the local Disaster Management Authority. The authority shall send its representative for inspection at the venue of the convention, and ascertain if COVID-19 guidelines are being followed during the event. In case of violation of the guidelines, and the risk of COVID-19 spread posed by such behaviour, the authorised representative shall have the powers to close down fully or partially the convention/gathering.