All evacuees from Afghanistan will have to undergo mandatory 14-day institutional quarantine at Delhi’s ITBP Chhawla Camp, the Union Health Ministry announced on Tuesday.
This development comes after two persons out of the 146 passengers who landed in Delhi from Afghanistan on August 24 were found positive for COVID-19 following which the Health Ministry in a statement announced mandatory 14-day institutional quarantine for evacuees returning from Afghanistan. The mandatory quarantine was initiated as per a guideline issued by the Health Ministry on August 23. This guideline makes it mandatory for those arriving in India from Afghanistan to remain in institutional quarantine for at least 14 days from the day of arrival at the Chhawla camp in Najafgarh. The ministry said the Centre is undertaking emergency evacuation of people from Afghanistan to India and considering the nature of crisis, it has already allowed exemption from mandatory pre-boarding RT-PCTR testing, presently mandated for international travellers, for people who have been evacuated from the war-torn country. All nodal agencies involved — MEA, MOCA, MHA, ITBP and Government of NCT of Delhi, NCDC — shall designate and communicate the name, designation and contact number of their nodal persons to each other and to the Ministry of Health, it added.
