UAE To India Travel: Airfare Soar As Mumbai Lifts 7-Day Quarantine

by Deeplata Garde
UAE To India Travel: Airfare Soar As Mumbai Lifts 7-Day Quarantine

The BMC has published an update to COVID restrictions in Mumbai. It states that there would be no mandated 7-day home quarantine for UAE travellers. It is also learned that the RT-PCR test is not mandatory upon arrival. In light of rising cases earlier, BMC issued a statement of a 7-day home quarantine for all international passengers. Passenger traffic and airfares from UAE to Mumbai are expected to increase in the coming week as passengers looking for quarantine-free travel to India will choose Maharashtra as their arrival destination. It’s expected that air passenger traffic will increase by 20-25% in the coming weeks on the UAE-Mumbai corridor.

India Has Announced A List Of At-Risk Countries

The Centre had already announced a list of ‘at-risk’ nations. The visitors from these nations would have to undergo checks upon arrival in India. This included post-arrival testing. The list of nations has to update on a regular basis, taking into account the COVID situation in each country. The spread of the novel Coronavirus variant Omicron was also considered.

Previously the government made it to the headlines with a different set of guidelines. All overseas visitors arriving in India has to undergo mandatory seven-day home quarantine from January 11. Passengers arriving from ‘at-risk’ nations have to test for COVID-19 at the airport before being confined. They got to undergo an RT-PCR test on the eighth day, according to an official statement.

Also Read: UAE To India Travel: Airfares Drop To Dh250 As 7-Day Mandatory Quarantine Hits Travellers

BMC To Track Home Test Kit Purchases

The sale of COVID self-test kits spiked recently. Hence the BMC decided to write about this to Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It was majorly done to seek guidelines for chemists and document the data of the same.

A huge ratio of positive cases went unreported recently. It seems to happen, owing to the enhanced use of self-test kits. Therefore, BMC wants to record the information of individuals who bought kits from chemists.

COVID Situation In Maharashtra

On January 16, Maharashtra has reported 41,327 new COVID cases and 29 deaths in the last 24 hours. And with this, the active COVID case tally in the state stands at 2,65,346. Mumbai has recorded 7,895 new COVID cases and 11 deaths in the last 24 hours.
In India, Maharashtra is the most affected state due to COVID-19. The state has reported eight Omicron cases on Sunday.