COVID-19 test mandatory for passengers landing at Chandigarh airport

All inbound air travellers of Punjab landing at Chandigarh airport shall be mandatorily tested for COVID-19 upon arrival, said Mohali District Magistrate (DM) Girish Dayalan.

This comes as domestic flight operations resumed across the country from Monday except in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal after two months of suspension due to coronavirus-induced lockdown.

"All such persons shall be required to undergo mandatory home quarantine for a period of 14 days from the date of arrival. In case the test comes out to be positive, the person shall be lifted to an isolation facility. If tested positive, they will be shifted to an isolation facility. If negative, they shall still observe home quarantine for 14 days," Dayalan said.

He further said that the Station Managers of the respective airlines shall make available to the nodal officer -- lists of passengers in the flight whose destination is Punjab well in advance.

"All passengers belonging to Punjab shall be tested for COVID-19 at the airport. Civil Surgeon, Mohali shall depute adequate teams at the airport for this purpose. The nodal officer shall ensure that their names, mobile numbers and address are duly noted," Dayalan said.

The DM stated that the nodal officer shall ensure that the names, address and mobile numbers of all other arriving passengers (not belonging to Punjab) are duly recorded and passed on to respective District Collectors (DCs) for further necessary action as per the protocol of the recipient state.

"It is clarified that mandatory COVID-19 tests shall be done only of passengers whose destination is Punjab (any district). The passengers for UT of Chandigarh, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh moving through the airport shall be dealt with as per the protocol of the recipient state," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )