NEW DELHI: As per the latest update in travel norms amidst the alarm sounded by the surge in China, the union govt has mandated negative RT-PCR for pax arriving from countries apart from China.
Majorly passengers arriving from Asian countries like Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea apart from China from 1st Jan will not be allowed to board flights to India until a negative RT-PCR certificate is not presented.
They will have to upload their certificate on the Air Suvidha portal prior to departure, read instructions by Union Health Minister Mansukh shared as a post on his Twitter handle.
“A mandatory requirement for pre-departure RT-PCR testing (to be conducted within 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey) is being introduced for passengers arriving on all international flights from these countries,” said the order. The ministry of civil aviation’s Air Suvidha portal will be made operational so that the passengers traveling into India from these countries can submit/upload negative RT-PCR test reports and submit a self-declaration form on this portal, it said. The existing practice of post-arrival random testing of 2 % travelers (irrespective of the port of departure) shall continue, it added.
Ever since the striking uptick in COVID-19 cases in China is reported, India has been preparing the nation to combat the virus at its maiden portal of reprisal- the International arrivals. All UTs and states have been asked to initiate testing and expand their genome sequencing centers in order to tackle the unrest at the point of arrival. The govt has mandated random tests for the virus for 2 percent of passengers arriving on each international flight from Saturday onwards.