International passengers arriving at Chennai airport with a COVID-19 negative certificate will only have to undergo two days of institutional quarantine.
So far, all international passengers were put in seven-day institutional quarantine and they had to be tested twice, first at the time of arrival and second, on the seventh day of quarantine.
Officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said in a high level meeting with the authorities of the State government, it has been decided that any who arrives with a certificate would be subjected to only two days in institutional quarantine.
“Those who can’t afford it land in the city without such a certificate. In such cases, they have to go through the usual seven-day institutional quarantine,” an official said.
In the last few months, international passengers arriving in repatriation flights are placed under institutional quarantine in government-offered free accommodation or hotels of varying price categories.
AAI officials and representatives of domestic airlines once again requested the Tamil Nadu government to increase the number of flights. Sources said, the government has asked them to give a proposal so that it could be considered.
“Right now, there is a cap that only 25 flights from other States can come to the city. We have been constantly requesting the government to allow us to operate more flights. We want about 80-100 flights but we don’t know when we will get the approval for this. We are hoping that once the proposal is done, we will hear from the State government,” a source said.
