Jammu: The Health Department and the district administrations have geared up to deal with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Jammu by making the RT-PCR test mandatory for international travellers.
The officials said that in this process, the Department of Health held a series of meetings with the respective district administrations following which it was decided that the international travellers would be tested for the new variant of COVID-19 using the RT-PCR test at Jammu airport, Lakhanpur, Katra and Jammu railway station.
“We are conducting 170 to 200 RAT tests daily at Jammu airport for the travelers on their arrival here. Though Jammu has a domestic airport, we are monitoring all the travelers as per routine,” said an airport official.
He said that the test was conducted in case the passenger fails to produce vaccination certificates or a negative report of tests within 72 hours.
“We have held meetings with the Department of Health’s officials and are continuously monitoring the situation,” the official said.
He said that they had ensured RT-PCR testing of all international travellers at Lakhanpur, Katra Railway Station, and Jammu Railway Station.
“The international travelers will be tested using RT-PCR and they won’t be allowed to go home directly. However, they will be shifted to five notified paid hotels in Jammu district till their report returns,” the official said.
He said that those travellers who want free quarantine would be shifted to Bhagwat Nagar.
“They will be allowed to go home only after their report returns negative,” the official said. “And, if the report returns positive, the international travellers will be shifted to the DRDO Hospital at Bhagwati Nagar for treatment,” the official said. “Even if the travellers test negative in RT-PCR, the test will be repeated after eight days.”
He said that the monitoring of such international travellers would be checked and rechecked to make sure that they were not infected with the new variant.
The official said that in Lakhanpur too, the RT-PCR of the international traveller would be conducted, and if their test report returns positive, they would be quarantined in the COVID Care Centre established in Kathua district.