China's lack of Covid transparency ignites fear of new virus variants

Passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand will be mandatorily required to provide negative Covid reports from January 1, Union Health Minister Mansukh said

Passengers arriving in India from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand will be mandatorily required to provide negative Covid reports from January 1, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Thursday.

They will have to upload the negative Covid reports from RT-PCR tests on the Air Suvidha portal prior to their departure.

The tests have to be conducted within 72 hours of undertaking the journey to India, Mandaviya said.

This requirement is in addition to the random two per cent tests of all international passengers in all incoming international flights on their arrival in India irrespective of their port of departure, the minister said.

Amid a spike in coronavirus cases in some countries, the government has sounded an alert, tightened Covid guidelines and asked states and Union territories to prepare for any eventuality.

India recorded 268 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases increased to 3,552, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.11 per cent while the weekly positivity was pegged at 0.17 per cent, the ministry said.