KATHMANDU, JUNE 28
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) today issued amended standards of passenger arrival to Nepal.
According to the amendment, all passengers travelling to Nepal from abroad - Nepalis as well as foreign nationals - are required to have medical certificate with a negative RT-PCR or equivalent testing (Gene Xpert/ True NAAT) report with photo identification and barcode or QR code (as per the availability, Nepali diplomatic mission at country of departure may prescribe otherwise) issued by the registered COVID-19 labs or respective countries within 72 hours from the swab collection time to the departure time of the flight with exemption of test report for their minors below the age of five years.
They must also possess the printed barcode obtained after filling up ARMS (Abroad Returnee Management System) forms available at the website of COV- ID-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC).
Unless exempted, all passengers are subjected to furnish the evidence of hotel bookings of seven days for quarantine at their own cost in the hotels listed by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation or Nepal Tourism Board or CCMC, Nepal.
However, certain passengers are subject to only home quarantine for 10 days upon arrival. These include passengers with a complete COVID-19 vaccination certificate; those coming for emergency purposes like for funerals and mourning with recommendations from respective local levels; sick people as well as their carers, senior citizens above 70, children below five and their guardians, and differently-abled people, certified by hospitals and with recommendations from respective local levels; government staff, security personals, diplomats and their families returning to Nepal, and individuals or volunteers involved in rescue mission of human trafficking victims and Nepalis stranded abroad, based on their office/mission recommendations; and expats returning to Nepal, owing to deportations/liberation, are subject to hotel quarantine of seven days under the entire management of Nepal government in line with recommendation of concerned Nepali diplomatic mission.
Airline crew members are subject to health protocols developed by concerned airlines as per guidelines of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
All those undergoing quarantine in the hotels or homes will have to take RT- PCR tests on the seventh and 11th day of arrival. Anyone found flouting quarantine provisions will be punished.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 29 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
