SRINAGAR: With domestic flights and trains to be resumed, Jammu and Kashmir Government on Sunday issued guidelines for those travelling by air or rail, making a 14-day institutional quarantine and testing of all incoming passengers by train/ air mandatory.
According to Government Order No. 56-JK (DMRRR) of 2020, Whereas, the Government of Jammu & Kashmir vide its Order No. 51- JK(DMRRR) of 2020 dated 11.05.2020, read with Order no. 55-JK(DMRRR) of 2020 dated 19.5.2020 and the Circular dated 23.05.2020 issued instructions for mandatory 100% RTPCR testing of all incoming passengers by trains or any other means into the UT of Jammu & Kashmir in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19; and
2) Whereas, the said instructions also mandated 100% administrative/ institutional quarantine of all passengers for 14 days or till their test results are reported negative, in which case they are released for Home Quarantine, or if positive, in which case they are sent to a COVID hospital for recovery and treatment.
3) Therefore, in continuation of the above instructions, the undersigned, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the State Executive Committee, in the exercise of powers conferred under Section 24 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, hereby issues the following additional instructions/modifications/ exemptions to the procedure prescribed in the above circulars:
a) The categories of passengers listed below, arriving by air, rail or any other means from outside the UT into the UT of Jammu & Kashmir will have a modified quarantine procedure, whereby they will be sampled on arrival for RTPCR testing and sent to Home Quarantine for 14 days; and, if their test result is positive, they will be brought to a COVID hospital for recovery and treatment: i) Pregnant women in the last trimester, with a Doctor’s certificate of pregnancy; ii) Cancer patients on chemotherapy; iii) Chronically ill patients, discharged from a hospital after a surgical procedure; iv) Dialysis patients with a doctor’s certificate of being on dialysis; v) Mothers with infants below 1 year; vi) Children below 10 years traveling alone without a family member; vii) Government of India personnel on bona fide government duty; and, viii) Passengers travelers with an RTPCR TEST Negative Certificate from an ICMR approved laboratory/ testing facility, not older than 2 days (48 hours) before the arrival date, reads the order issued by CS.
b) The testing and quarantine procedures prescribed in the Orders in Paragraph 1 above will be applicable to all air travelers from a Red district to an Orange District within the UT of Jammu & Kashmir, it reads.
4) Any violation of these instructions will attract penalties under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and other provisions of law, reads the order.
