RT-PCR report of passengers from China, 4 other nations must: Official

With the next month expected to be crucial for India’s Covid-19 situation, passengers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore would have to carry a negative RT-PCR report from next week onwards, official sources have said.

The Covid-19 spike in these countries has sent alarm bells ringing in India as well, with states gearing up to prepare for any emergencies and taking stock of health infrastructure.

A PTI report quoted an official saying, “Previously, it has been noticed that a new wave of Covid-19 hits India around 30-35 days after it hits East Asia…. This has been a trend.”

International passengers from these five countries would have to upload their negative Covid-19 RT-PCR report on the Air Suvidha portal, 72 hours before arriving in India.

According to reports, in the last two days 39 passengers have tested positive on arrival in India and their samples have been sent for genome sequencing. Health ministry has not shared the travel history of these passengers.

Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya is expected to visit the Delhi airport on Thursday to take stock of the situation.

On Tuesday India added 188 new Covid-19 cases, slightly more than the previous day but the daily positivity rate has remained below one at 0.14 per cent. The weekly positivity rate too is at 0.18 per cent at present. India has 3,468 active cases.

Government hospitals across India conducted a mock-drill to test their preparedness for a surge in Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.

More than 80 per cent of the global cases are from 10 countries including Japan, South Korea, US, France, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

It is not known yet if the requirement of negative RT-PCR will be extended to other countries as well.

India has started conducting a random test of two percent of all international arrivals at its airports.