New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday issued new guidelines for international travellers as mutant variants of SARS-CoV-2 spread around the world. These will succeed all guidelines issued since August 2, 2020.

"This Standard Operating Procedure shall be valid w.e.f. 22nd February 2021 (23.59 Hrs IST) till further orders," the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement on Wednesday. The guidelines have been divided in three sections based on the origin of travel.

· All international travellers except those coming through flights originating from UK, Europe and Middle East will be required to submit a self-declaration form on the online 'Air Suvidha' portal before the scheduled travel.

· They would also need to upload a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test report. This test should have been conducted within 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey.

· Each passenger shall also submit a declaration with respect to authenticity of the report and will be liable for criminal prosecution, if found otherwise.

· All international travellers coming or transiting through flights originating from the United Kingdom, Europe and Middle East have to additionally submit a Self-Declaration Form (SDF) for COVID on the online 'Air Suvidha' portal before the scheduled travel and will be required to declare their travel history of the past 14 days.

· As per the guidelines, travellers from the UK, Brazil and South Africa taking connecting flights from the international airport they land at will have to give a sample at designated area and exit the airport only after confirmation of negative test report which may take 6-8 hours.

· Those transit travellers from UK, Brazil and South Africa who are found negative on testing at the airport shall be allowed to take their connecting flights and would be advised quarantine at home for 7 days and regularly followed up by the concerned state or district IDSP.

· These travellers shall be tested after 7 days and if negative, released from quarantine, and continue to monitor their health for a further 7 days.

(With agency inputs)