Amid reports of no social distancing, chaos and overcrowding at airports after new travelling guidelines were imposed due to spread of Omicron’ strain of Covid-19 variant, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday directed the GMR group-led Delhi  International Airport Limited (DIAL), to implement better crowd management strategies.

The Minister called a meeting on Monday with officials of the Airports Authority of India, Bureau of Immigration and DIAL. Officials of Genestrings Diagnostics, the sole laboratory that does RT-PCR testing at the Delhi airport, were also present at the meeting.

Amid growing concern over the new Omicron variant of coronavirus, long queues at  Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport with no social distancing is giving a harrowing time to flyers as they wait to get their RT-PCR test results. Most travellers are facing a tough time as they wait five to six hours to get their RT-PCR. 

At the Delhi airport, Rapid PCR test costs a passenger Rs 3,500 but the results come in 60-90 minutes. RT-PCR costs a passenger Rs 500 and the results come in around six hours. A passenger coming from an "at-risk" country can choose either of the tests at the Delhi airport.

In a statement issued on Monday evening, Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO, DIAL, said that the Delhi airport has been making continuous enhancements in infrastructure and processes to manage the new screening norms for passengers arriving from "at-risk" countries. The number of passengers pre-booking their tests on arrival have been going up every day, he noted.

In a series of tweets, Delhi airport said “We have updated testing capacity at international arrival with deployment of 120 Rapid PCR machines, taking hourly capacity to 500-600 per hour with a TAT of less than 60 minutes.

Further, there is provision for approximately 500 RTPCR tests per hour. This additional capacity will further smoothen the international arrival process”.

On Saturday, taking to Twitter, people narrated their ordeal and shared pictures of the jam-packed airport. "IGI Airport at 5 AM, seems all flights for the day arrive at the same time. Finding Omicron is sure going to be like finding a needle in a haystack", one of the flyers tweeted.

The DIAL had said on Saturday that 20 dedicated counters have been set up for the passengers arriving from "at-risk" countries and having pre-booked their mandatory COVID-19 test.

After the new travelling guidelines, all passengers coming from "at-risk" countries have to compulsorily undergo RT-PCR test and two per cent of passengers arriving from other countries would also have to take the test on a random basis.

 The passengers will have to wait for the results before leaving the airport or taking a connecting flight, according to the guidelines. Countries in Europe, including the UK, and South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Israel have been placed in the "at-risk" category by the Union Health Ministry.