Amid fears of new COVID-19 strains, the RT-PCR test is mandatory for passengers arriving from seven other countries, including South Africa, Bangladesh and China, the Center said Thursday.
In a letter to all states and territories of the Union (UT), the government said that, considering reports of new mutations in SARS-CoV-2 and the increase in the number of variants of concern (VOC) and of variants of interest (Flights) worldwide, seven countries have been added to the list of countries whose passengers will have to take another RT-PCR test when landing at Indian airports, apart from the which they must do before embarking on the flight.
These seven countries are South Africa, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.
In previous guidelines published in February, passengers from the UK, Europe and the Middle East had to retake the RT-PCR test when landing at airports in India.
The Center also called on states / UTs to ensure strict compliance with these guidelines to prevent the import of flights and VoCs to India from other countries.
“States / UTs should also strengthen their whole genome sequencing (WGS) activities by coordinating through the SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) Indian Laboratory Network by sending a fixed percentage of case samples positive among international travelers for genome sequencing at the respective INSACOG genome sequencing laboratories labeled with them, ”Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in the letter.
At a press conference, VIT Paul, a member of NITI Aayog (Health), noted that while the risk of mutants will exist, tools for testing, monitoring, vaccination, clinical preparation and appropriate behavior in COVID should be used strongly.
“The impact of mutants, whether on the severity of the disease or on transmissibility, is something we understand systematically and INSACOG has a great capacity and has been strengthened over time and, using it, we will have “Detection of international travelers from the point of view of genetic sequencing is one of the most critical protocols and pillars,” he said.
ICMR Director-General Balram Bhargava said a mutant found in Columbia is currently classified as a mutant of interest.
“We are watching it closely and no serious illness or its rapid spread has been seen, but over time we will be able to explain more,” he said.