Passengers have been given the option of either uploading their negative RT-PCR test report or their certificate of full vaccination.
The government has eased quarantine and Covid-19 testing requirements for international travellers, with daily Covid-19 positive cases declining by 80% from peak levels a month ago and test case positivity falling below 5%.
V K Paul, member, health, Niti Aayog, expressed optimism with an overall reduction in daily new cases to under one lakh for the last four days and test case positivity falling below 5% in the country. Paul said despite the drop in cases, the pandemic has not ended. Paul cautioned against lowering guard against the pandemic. The virus could get smarter and break the vaccine defence, he warned.
The government has issued new guidelines for international travellers, which would come into effect from February 14, 2022. The ‘at-risk’ tag for countries has been removed. The Union health ministry has scrapped the mandatory seven-day quarantine for international travellers who have to self-monitor their health for 14 days after arrival. They have to isolate in case they develop Covid-19 symptoms. Passengers don’t need to give samples at the time of arrival and wait at the airport for results. There would be random sampling of 2% of the international travellers and they have to give samples and leave the airport.
Passengers have been given the option of either uploading their negative RT-PCR test report or their certificate of full vaccination. This would be on a reciprocal basis with countries that have an agreement with India on mutual recognition of vaccination certificates.
India on Thursday reported 67,084 new Covid-19 cases, while active caseload was to 7,90,789. The daily positivity rate was 4.44%. While 34 states/UTs have reported a decline in case positivity, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan continued to report high case positivity and accounted for around 60% of the country’s Covid-19 cases.
The country has vaccinated 96% of the eligible population with one dose and 78% with two doses. Nearly 1.61 crore precaution doses have been administered and 69% of the 15-18 age group got their first dose and 14% got their second dose. Total vaccines administered in the country was 171.29 crore doses.
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