Pre-booking RT-PCR mandatory for arrivals from ‘at-risk’ countries

The government has made it compulsory for international passengers arriving to the country from "at risk" nations to prebook an RT-PCR test amid surge in COVID-19 new variant 'Omicron' from Decmber 20. The ministry of civil aviation announced on Tuesday that in view of rising cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, passengers arriving from ‘at-risk’ countries at six major airports will be required to mandatorily pre-book their RT-PCR tests. These measures will be implemented at six major international airports in the country - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.

The order comes in the backdrop of easing the COVID-19 testing process for passengers arriving to the country amid complaints of long queues at the airports due to tightened COVID protocols following Omicron scare. The order also stated that Air Suvidha portal would be modified to allow the passengers to mandatorily pre-book the RT-PCR test if they are corning from or have visited "at risk" countries in the last 14 days. It also mentioned that link to the concerned airport website would be provided in online platform which would be displayed to passengers while filling up the self-declaration form.

The ministry also directed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to issue an advisory to all airlines to check their passengers’ pre-booking of the Covid-19 test before they board the flight. “If a passenger is having difficulty in pre-booking, they may not be denied boarding. However, the airline would be responsible to identify and accompany such passengers to the registration counter at the airport for testing,” it said. India’s ‘at-risk’ list for Omicron currently comprises a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom. The other nations which are present on the list are South Africa, Botswana, Brazil, China, Ghana, Hong Kong, Israel, Mauritius, New Zealand, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.