India makes RT-PCR test must for passengers from 7 more countries

India on Thursday made it mandatory for international passengers to carry a negative RT-PCR test report while travelling to the country.  The test report should not be older than 72 hours. The passengers from seven more countries, including, China and South Africa, will have to carry these test reports with them. The move from the Centre comes after the discovery of a new Covid variant – C.1.2 – which could be more infectious and has shown signs of evading protection provided by vaccines.

Earlier, this rule from was only applicable for passengers arriving from the UK, Europe and Middle East, however, seven more countries – South Africa, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe – have been added to the list on Thuesday, according to a latest guideline by Ministry of Health. As per the new guidelines, only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the flights toIndia and on arrival, they will again be tested for Covid through RT-PCR test. The ministry has also asked the states to send a fixed percentage of samples of positive cases among international travellers for genome surveillance.

The new variant was first detected in South Africa in May. It has since been found in China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritius, England, New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland. Mumbai's civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) made RT-PCR tests mandatory for international passengers arriving at the city airport from September 3 over fears about the new strain. C.1.2. evolved from C.1., a lineage of the virus that dominated infections in the first wave of the virus in South Africa in mid-2020. It has between 44 and 59 mutations from the original virus detected in Wuhan in China.