Tamil Nadu issues new SoPs for air travel amid Omicron fears. Check RT-PCR requirements and other details

Tamil Nadu government has issued a new set of SoPs for passengers for air travel from 1 December as fears loom large around new COVID-19 variant Omicron, news agency ANI reported. As per the new directive, passengers on arrival from these nations are to stay at the airport till their RT-PCR result comes negative. Meanwhile, random sampling will be conducted for travellers coming from countries other than the ones categorised as 'at risk' nations, said S. Dharmaraj, Director at Tiruchirappalli International Airport. He further noted that, the entire area is being sanitised regularly. Meanwhile, state Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Wednesday said that the government has instructed officials to take steps to restrict movement of non-vaccinated people. Speaking to ANI, Subramanian said, "We have instructed district collectors to take steps on restrictions for non-vaccinated people and ensure that they do not come in public places. We want to ensure that people get vaccinated without fail." He further said, "In Kanyakumari, customers at government liquor shops will get liquor only if they are vaccinated." The state government on Tuesday extended the existing Covid-19 restrictions and relaxations in Tamil Nadu till 15 December. The state has also allowed inter-state public transport between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Tamil Nadu on Wednesday reported 718 new COVID-19 cases. According to the state government health bulletin, the state has reported a total of 27,27,635 cases. With 11 deaths reported in the last 24 hours due to the disease, the death toll of the city climbed up to 36,492. The total active cases stood at 8,200. The total recoveries have gone up to 26,82,943 with 751 more people recovering from the infection.