Union Minister reviews Arrangements for Screening and Testing of International Passengers at New Delhi

New Delhi: Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare today visited the Indira Gandhi International airport, New Delhi to review arrangements for screening and testing of international passengers in view of the recent spike in cases of COVID-19 in some countries.

Dr Mansukh Mandaviya reviewed the RT-PCR testing mechanism and the Air Suvidha portal which has been started from 1st January, 2023. He also visited the Airport Health Organization office (APHO) and interacted with the officials present there. He stated that “passengers arriving from 6 high-risk countries are now mandatorily required to upload their negative RT-PCR test reports in the Air Suvidha portal within 72 hours of undertaking their journey to India while travellers from other countries are being randomly tested at the airports upon their arrival in India”. “This is being done to ensure that genome sequencing of any positive case is promptly done to understand the strength and behaviour of any new variants”, he further stated.

Underscoring the challenge posed by the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in some countries across the world such as China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and United States, Union Health Minister emphasized the importance of being prepared and remaining alert against new and emerging strains of COVID-19. He directed officials to be fully geared up and urged people to follow COVID Appropriate Behaviour and get vaccinated against COVID. He also stated that the Union Government is taking all necessary measures to ensure effective preparation and management of the emerging COVID-19 scenario.