NEW DELHI: With the declining COVID-19 cases, the Indian Aviation Ministry has decided to scrap the pre-departure Covid test requirement for travellers coming from or via China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand and Japan from Monday, the health ministry said.
The dismantlement means the passenger will no longer have to upload a self-health declaration on the ‘Air Suvidha’ portal from February 13 while travelling to India.
In a letter sent to his counterpart in the Ministry of Civil Aviation Rajiv Bansal, Bhushan on Thursday said his ministry is updating its ‘Guidelines for International Arrivals’ in view of the decline in coronavirus cases.
“Further, as per World Health Organisation’s latest situational update on Covid-19, a decline of 89% in the number of newly confirmed cases in the past 28 days has been noted globally as compared to 28 days prior to that. Meanwhile, India has continued to witness a declining trajectory, with less than 100 new cases/day being reported,” Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote in the letter.
However, the 2% random testing on arrival in India — irrespective of country of origin — will continue.