Center eases Covid guidelines for international travellers

Amid the declining trajectory of fresh Covid cases in the country, the union health ministry on Wednesday eased the Covid-19 guidelines for international visitors, dropping the earlier requirement for RT-PCR based testing of a random two per cent subset of international travellers. The new guidelines shall come into effect from midnight of July 20.

According to the new guidelines for international arrivals, all travelers should ‘preferably’ be fully vaccinated as per the approved primary schedule of vaccination against Covid-19 in their home country. “All travellers should preferably be fully vaccinated as per the approved primary schedule of vaccination against COVID-19 in their Country”, reads the new guideline.

However, the earlier advice for precautionary measures to be followed by airlines as well as international travelers will continue to apply. The guidelines said that in-flight announcements about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic including precautionary measures will be followed and shall be made in flights/travel and at all points of entry.

Any passenger having symptoms of Covid-19 during travel shall be isolated as per standard protocol. The guidelines said that the thermal screening should be done in respect of all the passengers by the health officials present at the point of entry. The passengers found to be symptomatic during screening shall be immediately isolated, taken to a designated medical facility as per health protocol.

Meanwhile, India on Wednesday reported 49 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases have increased to 1,464 from 1,453 a day ago. The death toll stands at 5,31,915 in the country. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,44,61,625 and the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.18 per cent.