Coming to Punjab for less than 72 hours? No quarantine needed, says state govt

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 14

Those coming to Punjab for less than 72 hours are now exempt from the mandatory home quarantine, and only need to submit a formal undertaking at the border check post.

Announcing this relaxation for inbound domestic travellers, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said it had been decided to provide this concession to facilitate students wishing to come for examinations or business travellers etc, whose stay in the state is less than 72 hours from the time of their arrival. It has been decided to exempt such travellers from the 14-day mandatory home quarantine requirement that remains in place for domestic inbound travellers in Punjab, he said.

The exempt travellers will, however, need to submit a formal undertaking with the OIC of the check post in a standard format provided on the COVA app, which they would have to download on their phones. Besides entering their details in the app’s travellers’ information section, these persons would have to undertake that the COVA app will remain active throughout their period of stay in Punjab.

The additional SOPs for such travellers requires them to voluntarily submit that they are not coming from any containment zone and undertake not to stay for more than 72 hours in Punjab from the time of arrival in the state. During this period, they shall commit to monitoring their health and maintaining distance from those around, and also interact with the assigned surveillance team in case they suffer from any symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and will immediately call at 104.

All due precautions would have to be strictly adhered to and non-adherence to wearing of mask/social distancing etc would make them liable to be acted upon under section 188 of IPC as per provision of  “The Epidemic Diseases Act 1897”, said the Chief Minister.

Further, if within a week of return, any such person is tested positive, then he/she will have to immediately contact the Government of Punjab at 104 and assist them in contact tracing.

It may be recalled that while the Government of India had recently waived off the requirement of home quarantine for domestic travellers and replaced the same with self-monitoring, Captain Amarinder has made it clear that quarantine restrictions will continue to remain in place in Punjab on account of rising cases. The announcement made on Tuesday is the only exemption to the rule