December 30, 2022
NEW DELHI – Ramping up the preparations to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre has, on Thursday, made the RT-PCR test mandatory from January 1 next year for passengers coming to India from six countries including China from.
These flyers will have to upload their reports on the Union government’s Air Suvidha portal before travel to India.
“RT-PCR test has been made mandatory for flyers coming from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand from 1st January 2023. They will have to upload their reports on the Air Suvidha portal before travel,” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a tweet.
“International passengers travelling from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand to India will be mandatorily required to undergo RT-PCR tests before their departure from these countries/destinations and upload the Covid negative RTPCR test report on the Air Suvidha portal from January 1, 2023,” the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement.
The test should be conducted within 72 hours before their journey to India, reads the statement.
This requirement is in addition to the random 2 per cent tests of all international passengers in all incoming international flights on their arrival to India irrespective of port of departure, it said.
“This is being done in view of the evolving COVID-19 situation across the world, particularly in the aforesaid countries,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, India reported a total 268 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours.
The active caseload of the country stands at 3,552 cases, accounting for 0.01 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.
The weekly and daily positivity rates stood at 0.17 per cent and 0.11 per cent, respectively.