THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: International passenger movement is going to be tougher as more and more restrictions are being enforced by various countries in view of the rising cases of infection with mutant strains of Covid-19. Stung by the inaccurate RT-PCR test reports submitted by inbound passengers, the UAE has asked the airlines operating from Kerala and other parts of the country to ask their passengers to submit the copy of the test report with the QR code of the original report.
Further, the time of sample collection (sample date and sample time) and the time of reporting (result date and result time) shall be accurately mentioned in the report. In addition, the airlines operating from here are told to validate the report by scanning the QR code before the passengers are allowed on board. This is a part of the move to avoid discrepancies in the test report.
A senior officer of Air India said, “The validation method followed by some of the airlines to authenticate the PCR reports presented by the passengers was not accurate. A good number of passengers who board the flights from here with RT-PCR negative certificate test positive in the UAE, causing a serious concern among the authorities there.
Many of the test reports presented by passengers were bogus following which the UAE government asked the airlines to authenticate the test reports of the international passengers before allowing them to board the aircraft. This is likely to affect the passenger movement to the UAE from Kerala,” he said.