International travellers entering Mizoram will have to undergo mandatory Rapid Antigen Test as per the new guidelines issued by the state government, in the wake of detection of Omicron variant of COVID-19 in some states, an official said.

Following the recommendations of a State Level Expert Team on COVID-19 management, the Mizoram government has issued guidelines for international travellers, the official said on Tuesday.

According to the guidelines issued on Monday, any person entering Mizoram with international travel history within the last 14 days, prior to the date of arrival at the entry point will have to undergo mandatory screening with Rapid Antigen Test. Simultaneously, samples for RT-PCR or TrueNat tests will also be taken from such travellers regardless of negative RT-PCR test results prior to entry and vaccination status.

The guidelines said that if international travellers are found positive for COVID-19 through Rapid Antigen Test on their arrival or during isolation, they will be isolated or treated at facilities for international travellers and their swab samples will be sent for genomic testing. All the community contacts of those travellers who have tested positive (during home quarantine period) would be subjected to quarantine for 14 days and tested as per extant testing protocol.

If the international travellers screened with Rapid Antigen Test are tested negative without COVID-19 symptoms, they shall be quarantined at designated quarantined facilities or at home for seven-days with prior approval from the Deputy Commissioner within whose jurisdiction such persons are to be quarantined. RT-PCR Test will be conducted for those individuals on the 8th day. If they are tested negative with RT-PCR on the 8th day, then they will be free from quarantine but shall continue self-monitoring for another 7 days, in accordance with the guideline.

However, if international travellers screened with Rapid Antigen Test are found negative but develop symptoms of COVID-19, they will be immediately tested with RT-PCR or TrueNat facilities. If they still test negative with RT-PCR or TrueNat facilities, they will be nevertheless isolated at designated facilities or homes for 7 days with strict self-monitoring.