Negative Covid Report Made Mandatory for Travellers from China, five Other Countries
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 29: India has made it mandatory from Sunday for the passengers travelling from China and five other countries to submit a negative Covid test report before their arrival, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Thursday.
Besides China, passengers coming from Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand will also have to upload their negative reports on the “Air Suvidha” portal before their departure.
“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,” Mandaviya said in a tweet.
The tests have to be conducted within 72 hours of undertaking the journey to India, Mr Mandaviya said. The announcement comes amid a spike in Covid cases in China and some other countries. Experts believe that the surge is due to a new coronavirus variant BF.7.
Hospitals across China have been overwhelmed by an explosion of infections following Beijing’s decision to lift strict rules that had largely kept the virus at bay but tanked the economy and sparked widespread protests.
China said this week it would end mandatory quarantine on arrival, prompting many jubilant Chinese to make plans to travel abroad. India has sounded an alert and asked states and Union territories to prepare for any eventuality. The government has also made random coronavirus testing mandatory for two per cent of passengers arriving in each international flight from Saturday.
Negative reports from the six Asian countries will be in addition to the compulsory two per cent random testing of the passengers on their arrival in India irrespective of their port of departure. Last week, the government made random coronavirus testing mandatory for two per cent of passengers arriving on each international flight.
Not only India, many other countries including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Italy have announced testing requirements for passengers from China amid a COVID-19 surge there after authorities relaxed “zero-COVID” rules. They cite a lack of information from China on variants and are concerned about a wave of infections. China has rejected criticism of its COVID data and said it expects future mutations to be potentially more transmissible but less severe.
Apart from India, the US also announced on Thursday the new COVID-19 testing requirements for all travellers from China, joining other nations imposing restrictions because of a surge of infections. It said beginning January 5 2023, all travellers to the US from China will be required to take a COVID-19 test no more than two days before departure from China, Hong Kong or Macau and provide a negative test before boarding their flight. The testing applies to anyone 2 years and older. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention also said Americans should also reconsider travel to China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Japan said it would require a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival for travellers from mainland China. Those who test positive will be required to quarantine for seven days. New border measures for China will go into effect at midnight on Dec. 30. The government will also limit requests from airlines to increase flights to China.
Italy has ordered COVID-19 antigen swabs and virus sequencing for all travellers coming from China. Milan’s main airport, Malpensa, had already started testing passengers arriving from Beijing and Shanghai. “The measure is essential to ensure surveillance and detection of possible variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population”, Health Minister Orazio Schillaci said.
Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre said all passengers on direct flights from China, as well as by boat at two offshore islands, will have to take PCR tests upon arrival, starting on January 1.
Several other countries including Australia and Philippines said they were still continuing to monitor the situation in respect of China. The Australian prime minister said his country was “monitoring the impact of COVID here in Australia as well as around the world” before taking a decision on travel restrictions. Philippines said it was “very cautious” and could impose measures such as testing requirements on visitors from China, but not an outright ban, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said.
However, Britain said it had no plans to bring back COVID-19 testing for those coming into the country, a government spokesperson said on Thursday, when asked about a media report saying it would consider curbs for arrivals from China.
Meanwhile on Thursday, India recorded 268 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases increased to 3,552. The Covid case tally was recorded at 4.46 crore (4,46,77,915). The death toll stands at 5,30,698 with two fatalities with one reconciled by Kerala and one death reported from Maharashtra in the last 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.11 per cent while the weekly positivity was pegged at 0.17 per cent, the ministry said.