Following the increasing number of the Omicron variant cases of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, Tamil Nadu has decided to enforce home quarantine from Sunday for all those coming from foreign countries, irrespective of whether they are classified as at-risk or not-at-risk nations. Thereafter, they can take an RT-PCR test. If it returns negative, they can venture out. The decision was made as Omicron infections were observed in almost similar numbers from both at-risk or not-at-risk nations. Tamil Nadu has so far been performing RT-PCR tests on all passengers coming from at -risk countries, while only 2% of the passengers from other countries were tested.
Until now, only those arriving from at-risk countries were asked to undergo home quarantine. The state requested the Union government to issue guidelines to extend this to all countries. However, they have not received any response yet. Hence, to contain the spread of Omicron infections, they have decided to implement this from Sunday.
