KATHMANDU, June 29: The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has made it mandatory for those traveling to Nepal to quarantine themselves in a hotel for seven days.
The requirement, however, has been exempted for passengers with a complete COVID-19 vaccination certificate, those coming for emergency purposes like funerals and mourning with a negative antigen test and recommendation by the local units concerned. Sick people as well as their caregivers, senior citizens above 70 years, children below five years and their guardians, and differently-abled people certified by hospitals and with negative antigen test and recommendations by the local units concerned are also exempted from hotel quarantine provisions.
According to CAAN, people exempted from the requirement of hotel quarantine are subjected to home/self-quarantine for 10 days upon their arrival in Nepal. The revision of the standards of passenger arrival to Nepal comes after the cabinet meeting held on June 21, 2021, introduced some changes to the health and quarantine protocols for all passengers (Nepali and foreign nationals) traveling to Nepal from abroad.
Travel essentials
All those traveling to Nepal must possess a medical certificate with a negative RT-PCR or equivalent testing report with photo identification and barcode/QR code issued by a registered COVID-19 lab of the respective countries within 72 hours from the swab collection time to the departure time for the flight with the exemption of test report for their minors below five years of age. They must possess a printed barcode obtained after filling up Abroad Returnee Management System forms available on the website of the Central COVID-19 Crisis Management Center.
People other than those exempted need to furnish hotel bookings of seven days for quarantine at their own cost in the hotels listed by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal Tourism Board or CCMC, Nepal.
A cabinet meeting held last week decided to resume both international and domestic flights with some restrictions. The government had suspended all but chartered international flights to and from Kathmandu on May 3 following the outbreak of the second wave of the COVID-19 in Nepal.
