Amid a spurt in coronavirus cases in different parts of the world, the Indian government has decided to make a negative Covid report must for passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand from January 1. The authorities also started random testing of two per cent of passengers arriving on each international flights last week.
India’s decision to re-introduce coronavirus testing for international passengers has been criticised by the Global airlines’ grouping, International Air Transport Association (IATA), which called the decision “disappointing and a step backwards”. IATA said that the current situation is different from when the pandemic started around three years ago. IATA is a grouping of nearly 290 airlines, including various Indian carriers.
India’s current decision to make covid negative test compulsury for international passengers has come in the the wake of growing cases of new Omicrom variant BF-7. India’s decision may have surprised the international community as the cases of BF-7 have been in India for past several months and there has been no significant spike of such cases.
