Covid guidelines tweaked, what do new norms say about foreign travelers?

New Delhi: The Indian government recently issued a few Covid-19 recommendations to flyers from China and five other nations. In light of the global drop in corona cases, the Ministry of Health has instructed that a few precautions for travelers be relaxed beginning today. Previously, the Indian government required pre-boarding RT-PCR tests for passengers from China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Japan. The government has now eased the need that Self-Health Declarations to be uploaded to the Air-Suvidha App.

Even as the world has seen a significant reduction in the number of covid-cases, the center has elevated a few of the Covid-19 criteria for travelers traveling from or via China and the other five countries.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan recently wrote to Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal to inform him of the effective date of the revised Covid-19 rules for flyers. According to Rajesh Bhushan’s letter, the center has opted to expand the existing requirement of pre-departure Covid-19 testing in spite of reducing corona cases (which were to be tested not more than 72 hours before the start of the journey). Furthermore, the self-health certification on ‘Air Suvidha’ has now been eased.

The updated Covid-19 rules, emphasized by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, went into force today at 11 a.m. (February 13).

However, travelers should be aware that the Union Health Ministry will continue to track developing varieties. With all of this, the government will continue to carry out random Covid-19 testing on 2% of all visitors to India. Previously, random testing of travelers was suspended in November, but it resumed on December 24 following the administration’s careful evaluation of the mounting covid-19 instances in China and surrounding nations.