Mandatory Covid-19 testing of all people entering Jammu and Kashmir

JAMMU: All people arriving in Jammu and Kashmir, either by air, rail or road, will mandatorily have to be tested for Covid-19, according to the revised guidelines issued by the state executive committee (SEC) on quarantine procedures and protocols in the Union Territory.
All people entering the UT will be tested for Covid-19 by using the RT-PCR or Rapid Antigen tests or any other prescribed method, an official spokesperson said.
All air and rail passengers, who have a valid contactable mobile number with the Aarogya Setu application downloaded on their phones, shall be sent for 14-day home quarantine or till their test results are negative, after their sampling is done. “In case of air or rail passengers without a valid contactable phone with the Aarogya Setu app downloaded, they will be sent to administrative/institutional quarantine or paid quarantine for 14 days or till their test results are reported negative, in which case they will be released for home quarantine,” the spokesperson added.
“The existing practice of 14-day institutional/administrative/paid quarantine for all passengers till the test results are received shall, however, continue for road travellers who arrive in a regulated manner at Lakhanpur.”
These testing and quarantine procedures prescribed above will be applicable to all air travellers from a red district to an orange/green district in J&K.
The revised guidelines mean that all business travelers, with a confirmed return air ticket booking, confirmed hotel reservation and a business ID, will also be tested on arrival.
They will, however, be allowed to proceed to their hotel from the airport and will need to restrict their interactions to the business for which they have come. “If their test is positive, they will be treated as per existing Covid-19 protocol. They will also be required to maintain complete details of persons whom they came in contact with during their stay.
All the personnel of defence and central armed police forces returning to duty, including transit labour hired by Border Roads Organisation for Ladakh, are exempted from compulsory Covid-19 testing and dministrative/institutional quarantine in any facility authorized by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. “These personnel will be allowed to proceed to institutional quarantine of their respective units/formations for necessary quarantine as per their internal procedures,” the spokesperson added.