RT-PCR report must for flyers coming to Bengal if not fully vaccinated

All passengers flying to West Bengal, on both commercial and non-commercial flights, will have to produce either a certificate that shows they are fully vaccinated or a COVID-19 negative (RT-PCR) test report, the state government wrote to the civil aviation ministry on Monday.

The decision will be implemented with immediate effect, West Bengal Home Secretary BP Gopalika wrote to Civil Aviation secretary PS Kharola.

Passengers need to produce proof of their full vaccination or a COVID-19 negative test report at the time of boarding.

The RT-PCR test must be conducted within 72 hours of the departure of the flight.

Meanwhile, there was no COVID-19 death in the city while three fatalities each were reported in Darjeeling and Paschim Medinipur on Monday, the health department said.

A total of 12 COVID-19 deaths were registered in the state on Monday pushing the coronavirus death toll to cross the 18k-mark to reach 18,011, it said.

At least 666 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the state which increased the caseload to 15,18,847.

In the last 24 hours, 1,006 recoveries were reported in the state which improved the discharge rate to 97.97 per cent. So far, 14,88,077 people have recovered from the disease in West Bengal.

At present, there are 12,759 active cases in the state.

Since Sunday, 40,391 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state taking the total number of such tests to 1,51,78,563. On Monday, 3,18,805 people were inoculated in the state, a health department official said.