Omicron: BMC to Call International Arrivals Under Home Quarantine 5 Times a Day

On Day 7 of home quarantine, the Ward War Room teams will insure that the passengers undergo RT-PCR test.

Amid concerns around the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Maharashtra's Mumbai has released a set of guidelines for monitoring people exercising home quarantine.

In reference to the guidelines issued by the Centre for international arrivals and subsequent rules issued by the Maharashtra government, a seven-day home quarantine has to be adhered to for international arrivals from 'at-risk' countries.

The BMC has asked the CEO, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) to send a single line list of international passengers everyday at 9 am, who are arriving in Mumbai in the preceding 24 hours from 'high risk countries' and 'at risk countries' and those who have visited these nations in the past 15 days, to the director of Disaster Management Unit.

This list will then be forwarded ward-wise to 24 Ward War Rooms (WWR) and Medical Officers of Health (MOsH).

Here's how the WWR teams will function and ensure proper monitoring during home quarantine.

• The WWR will telephonically call people in home quarantine five times a day to ensure that they are strictly adhering to the protocol. They will address concerns of the passengers provide them with information on COVID protocol.

• The WWR will issue letter of information to the office bearers of housing societies of the international passengers under home quarantine and ensure that no visitor is allowed in such households.

• On Day 7 of home quarantine, WWR teams will insure that the passengers undergo RT-PCR test. They will also send medical teams with ambulance regularly to check if the passengers are following home quarantine guidelines.

In case any passenger is found to be violating the home quarantine protocol, they will be liable for legal action under the Epidemic Act, 1897 and the Disaster Management Act, 2005. "Such passengers shall be shifted to mandatory institutional quarantine," the BMC guidelines note.

(With inputs from ANI)