Covid Precaution: Negative Covid Report May be Made Mandatory for Passengers from Five Countries
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 28: With 39 people arriving in India from abroad having tested positive for Covid at airports across the country over the last two days, the centre is learnt to be mulling to make it mandatory for passengers arriving from China and five other Asian countries to carry negative RT-PCR reports from next week.
Cautioning that the next 40 days could be crucial as India may see a Covid surge in January, official sources said on Wednesday that filling up of ‘air suvidha’ forms and 72-hour prior RT-PCR testing may be made mandatory from next week for international passengers coming from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.
Altogether, 6,000 people were tested randomly, under the fresh protocol following the Covid surge. The government had said random tests would be conducted on two per of people at international arrival section.
So far, 200 strains of the Covid virus have been detected in the country. Sources also said the BF 7 strain, which is one of the four variants causing havoc in China, has also been isolated. The vaccines used in the country are seen as being effective against the variant.
India gains because of “hybrid immunity” — a combination of immunity acquired through vaccines and natural infection through the first, second and third wave. Experts feel that even if there is a wave, deaths and hospitalisation will be very low. “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,” an official said.
Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in some countries, including China and South Korea, the government has sounded an alert and asked states and Union territories to prepare for any eventuality. Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya will visit Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport on Thursday to take stock of the situation.
The proposed tightening of Covid guidelines and warning of a fresh surge come days after Mandaviya asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to consider suspending the Bharat Jodo Yatra if COVID-19 protocols could not be followed. The Yatra, currently on winter break, will resume on January 3.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mandaviya have held meetings to assess the country’s preparedness to deal with a fresh surge in cases. Mock drills were held at health facilities across India on Tuesday to check operational readiness to deal with any spurt in COVID-19 infection, with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya saying the country has to remain alert and prepared as cases are rising in the world.
The latest spike in cases is being driven by Omicron sub-variant BF.7. The official sources said the transmissibility of this BF.7 sub-variant is very high. A person infected with the sub-variant can further infect 16 persons.
The surge in China has been attributed to four variants of Coronavirus. The BF.7, he said, only accounts for 15 per cent of the cases. The majority — 50 per cent — is from the BN and BQ series, and SVV variant is 10-15 per cent. The cocktail of viruses, however, behave differently due to local epidemiology. In China, they have not been exposed to the virus before. “The vaccine they received is probably less effective, despite three to four doses,” experts said.
Meanwhile, in the national capital, people are unable to get free COVID-19 vaccines as almost all Delhi government-run vaccination centres are shut due to a shortage of both Covaxin and Covishield shots. The facilities are facing the shortage as the Delhi government is yet to get a fresh stock of vaccines from the central government, according to sources. This is despite concerns that COVID-19 cases might go up again and directions from the central and Delhi governments to increase administration of precaution doses.
In at least three districts, all vaccination centres were shut on Tuesday, officials said. “Currently, no vaccination centre in our district is working,” an official said. “Both vaccines have been out of stock for the past five to six days. At the beginning of this month, we were running about seven to 10 centres every day,” the official said.
Sources said the Delhi government has written to the Central government for both the vaccines, but hasn’t yet received any information on when the city might get a fresh stock. “Meanwhile, we are getting calls from people asking about getting vaccinated. We are telling them that vaccination is not happening now and we will restart once we get a stock of vaccines,” the official added.
