CHENNAI: In a bid to ensure safer international travel, Chennai airport will be conducting Covid rapid PCR tests for outbound international passengers at Chennai airport.
This comes after the Tamil Nadu government gave the clearance to Chennai airport to conduct the tests on Tuesday. Chennai airport director Dr Sharad Kumar said that it will take a maximum of 30 minutes for passengers to register and take tests. The results for the test are available within 13 minutes.
The RT-PCR test could be a major relief for Dubai-bound passengers, who were asked to undergo a rapid RT-PCR test four hours prior to departure, and they would be able to travel only if they test negative for Covid-19.
Once the passenger gets tested and is off to Dubai, he can travel to Australia, Europe, or the even United States, travel industry sources said.
It is learnt that tests will be carried out as per the US-FDA-approved equipment as per ICMR guidelines. The notification of the test results and follow-up measures shall comply with the ICMR guidelines and the guidelines of the Tamil Nadu government.
Chennai airport has a test facility 'Hind labs' set by HLL Life Care at Chennai Airport. It is learnt that HLL has selected Abbot ID Now based system to provide Rapid PCR for the passengers and the equipment is installed. Indian Council for Medical Research has also given the clearance to conduct the tests.