The Andaman & Nicobar administration has announced that all tourist spots in the South Andaman district will be opened for tourism activities with immediate effect. The authorities have added that tourists will however, have to abide by the strict COVID protocols, and follow COVID appropriate behaviour. As reported earlier, the authorities had announced the reopening of sound and light show at the Cellular jail, museums, and NSCB island for tourists.
Meanwhile, District Magistrate of the South Andaman District Suneel Anchipaka in the official order released by the island UT, announced several other relaxations in COVID guidelines, such as allowing political, social, entertainment, sports, religious, cultural, and festival-related gatherings and congregations. As per the reports, all playgrounds, parks, gyms, stadiums, and yoga institutes have also been allowed to reopen, whereas night curfew has also been revoked with no restrictions in place. Reportedly, the order has been put into effect immediately and shall remain in force till further notice.
In the second week of January, the Andaman and Nicobar administration announced closure of all tourist spots in view of rising Omicron cases. However, last week, the authorities announced reopening of tourist spots at 50% capacity, and announced specific operational timings for tourism activities.
As regarding entry requirements, all arrivals above two years of age, including those who are partially and fully vaccinated landing at the Veer Savarkar International Airport in Port Blair, will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 test report that has been taken within 48 hours before departure.
Apart from this, all arriving passengers with a history of foreign travel in the past 30 days, as well as partially and unvaccinated passengers will undergo RT-PCR on arrival, and will have to be isolated until the test results are released. And, if anybody on arrival is tested COVID-19 positive, they will have to follow prescribed quarantine protocol.
