Covid 4th wave scare: Center mandates RT-PCR tests for travellers from these five countries; details here

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• Dec 29, 2022 | Dhupali Das

In an advisory, the government stated that passengers flying to India from these countries must undergo Covid test...

Digital Desk: With the number of coronavirus cases increasing in various South Asian nations, including China, the Central Government has made RT-PCR tests mandatory for people travelling to India from five countries. These countries are: China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand. In an advisory, the government stated that passengers flying to India from these countries must undergo Covid testing no later than 72 hours before departure. The anti-coronavirus measure was implemented in response to claims that the Chinese health sector is on the verge of collapse due to an inflow of coronavirus patients caused by the BF7 sub-variant of Omicron.

The Central Government said that passengers travelling from these countries to India would be required to upload the negative COVID RT-PCR certificate on the Air Suvidha portal. The rule will become applicable from January 1, 2023.

The government's statement stated that the test should be conducted within 72 hours after arriving in India. This means that old test reports will not be accepted.

Already, the central government has tested 2% of all international travellers. These tests are completely random.

Additionally, the government has increased genome sequencing.

India recorded 268 new coronavirus cases on Thursday.

There are currently 3,552 active cases in the country.

The central government has stated that there is no need to worry, but the citizens of the country must behave in accordance with Covid standards.

Experts believe India's coronavirus situation will be less severe than China's since the majority of the population has developed what is called as herd immunity.