COVID-19 in India: RT-PCR now mandatory for flyers arriving from these countries — Check revised rules here

COVID-19 in India: The government has issued fresh guidelines for international passengers arriving in India from six countries including China and Japan. The ministry further directed the airlines to modify their check-in functionalities to incorporate the changes and issue boarding passes to passengers with RT-PCR negative test report.

By Akriti Anand

January 2, 2023, 4:03:40 PM IST (Updated)

The Ministry of Civil Aviation issued revised COVID guidelines for international passengers in six countries that includes China, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Japan. As per the latest instructions, from January 1, 2023, a pre-departure RT-PCR negative test report will be mandatory for passengers coming on all international flights from the above mentioned countries.

'In Transit' passengers — who use other airports for less than 24 hours to get to their destination to complete their journey — from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand to India will also have to go for mandatory RTPCR test within 72 hours of the journey, the additional health secretary told Civil Aviation Secretary recently.

The ministry had earlier directed the airlines to modify their check-in functionalities to incorporate the changes and issue boarding passes only to those international passengers who have submitted self-declaration forms on the Air Suvidha portal.

"Air Suvidha portal self-declaration has been made operational for passengers travelling in all international flights from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Japan, with a provision to allow these international travellers arriving in India to upload negative RT-PCR test reports as well as to submit self-declaration form," it said.

While India has been reported COVID-19 cases in hundreds for weeks, the concern has mounted over spike in COVID cases in other countries including China, Japan and the United States.

The situation in China is alarming as the country might be facing one of the biggest outbreaks in the world after it abruptly ended its zero-COVID policy. ". emergency wards in small cities and towns southwest of Beijing are overwhelmed. Intensive care units are turning away ambulances, relatives of sick people are searching for open beds, and patients are slumped on benches in hospital corridors and lying on floors for a lack of beds," Reuters reported.

India reported 243 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, raising the tally to 4.46 crore (4,46,78,158), while the active cases increased to 3,609 the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. The death toll stands at 5,30,699.

In the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in other countries, the Indian government is on alert and has directed states to monitor testing and ensure that citizens wear face masks, get vaccinated and follow social distancing.