Team News Riveting
New Delhi, December 24
The Centre has made RTPCR, the test for COVID-19, mandatory for the people arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand in the wake of a surge in cases in these countries.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya made the statement as India began random testing of 2 per cent of all international arrivals from 10am on Saturday. RTPCR has a higher accuracy than rapid antigen tests, with the government mandate to states also being ensuring 70 per cent RTPCR and the rest antigen-based testing for accuracy.
India’s challenge is to track any potential new variant.
So far, the Chinese surge has been powered by the Omicron variant and its lineages some of which are highly transmissible. They are, however, less severe than Delta.
The Air Suvidha forms filling to declare current health status shall also be made compulsory for international passengers arriving from these countries. Air Suvidha is a self-declaration form which was introduced as Covid prevention measure and was meant to understand contact tracing during the pandemic. It is currently required from all travellers who wish to enter India.
Mandaviya said, “Air Suvidha portal will be implemented for passengers arriving from these countries and RT-PCR tests will be mandatory for them. After arriving in India, if they test positive, they’ll be quarantined.”
