• The DGCA Issued New Guidelines for Air Passengers, Made Face Masks Mandatory; Details here

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    The DGCA Issued New Guidelines for Air Passengers, Made Face Masks Mandatory; Details here

    "The airline shall make regular announcements for awareness among the passengers on the need to follow appropriate covid behaviour such as hand hygiene, wearing masks, etc. during travel," the DGCA stated.

    Digital
    Desk:
    In view of rising coronavirus cases in the country, the
    aviation regulator body DGCA on Wednesday issued fresh guidelines and said passengers
    who do not wear masks on flights could be treated as' unruly'.



    "The airlines must
    ensure that all passengers properly wear face masks and continue to wear the
    mask throughout the flight. However, the face masks can be removed under
    exceptional circumstances and for permitted reasons only, " the DGCA said
    in its guidelines.



    The DGCA further added that
    passengers would be removed from the aircraft before departure if found without
    a face mask and not following appropriate covid-19 behaviour.



    Moreover, the civil aviation
    regulator DGCA also added that the CISF personnel would enforce mask guidelines
    at the airports. However, the DGCA permitted mask removal only under
    exceptional circumstances.



    "In case any passenger
    on board refuses to wear a mask or violates the 'Covid Protocol for passengers'
    even after repeated warnings, such passenger will be treated as an 'Unruly
    Passenger," the DGCA informed in its latest directives issued in line with
    the Delhi High Court's June 3 order.



    The DGCA stated that the
    airlines must ensure that passengers are aware of the preventive measures
    through their websites, travel agents, call centres, displays at airports,
    assistance booths, etc.



    "The airline shall make
    regular announcements for awareness among the passengers on the need to follow
    appropriate covid behaviour such as hand hygiene, wearing masks, etc. during
    travel," the DGCA stated.



    The civil aviation
    regulatory body further added that the airlines would make arrangements for
    extra face masks and provide them to the passengers.



    "The airline shall
    ensure that if any passenger does not adhere to the above instructions even
    after repeated warnings, he/she should be de-boarded, if need be, before
    departure," the civil aviation regulator added.



    Notably, the latest order
    from DGCA came when daily coronavirus infections in India were recorded above
    5,000 after 93 days, taking the total tally of COVID cases to 43 million, while
    the active cases rose to 28,857.