NEW DELHI: Starting next week, India will make Covid-19 negative reports mandatory for international arrivals from countries reporting a spike in cases so as to further minimise ingress of any new variant of the bug into the country.
“In the next one week, selected countries will be identified where the caseload is higher,” Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a TV interview on Friday. “People from there who come to India will have to upload their Covid-19 RTPCR reports,” he added.Countries reporting a surge in Covid-19 cases include China, the US, Japan, Korea, France, Greece and Italy.
On Thursday, the health ministry had announced new travel guidelines for international arrivals, which included 2% random Covid tests of passengers from hotspot countries. A day later, the ministry advised states to be alert in view of the upcoming Christmas and New Year festivities and directed them to strengthen surveillance, ramp up testing, and ensure the wearing of masks, especially in crowded spaces, including indoors.
Mandaviya held a Covid review meeting with state health ministers and asked them to ensure hospital infrastructure is ready to meet any eventuality. He directed them to carry out mock drills in hospitals to check their preparedness. “Need to collectively reinvigorate the system and remove any sense of complacency and fatigue,” he said and requested them to expedite testing.
India’s first nasal Covid vaccine is ready for use
India’s first intranasal Covid vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech has been approved by the Union Health Ministry as a booster dose and will be available on the CoWIN platform from today