The Union government on Thursday announced that passengers from China and five other places will have mandatory RT-PCR tests from January 1, 2023.
Besides China, the other five places are Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand.
The announcement comes as China sees an unprecedented Covid-19 surge, which has overwhelmed its healthcare system. It has also led to concerns of any potential spillover into India.
"RT-PCR test has been made mandatory for flyers coming from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand from 1st January 2023. They will have to upload their reports on the Air Suvidha portal before travel," said Union Home Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Twitter.
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India's response to the fresh Covid-19 scare
As Covid gets back on the radar with a surge in China and people worry about another wave in India, some scientists have called for a reality check.
The situation in India where a large number of people have been exposed to the virus and also been vaccinated is quite different from that in China. The likelihood of a new big Covid-19 wave in India is very low, an expert said.
As the government tightens Covid-19-related guidelines, the sources said filling up of 'air suvidha' forms and 72-hour prior RT-PCR testing may be made mandatory from next week for international passengers coming from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.
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The sources said 39 international passengers were found positive for Covid-19 out of the 6,000 tested on arrival in the last two days.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will visit the airport in Delhi on Thursday to take stock of testing and screening facilities there, they said.
How the government has responded?
The proposed tightening of Covid guidelines and warning of a fresh surge come days after Mandaviya asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to consider suspending the Bharat Jodo Yatra if Covid-19 protocols could not be followed.
The Yatra, currently on winter break, will resume on January 3.
The government has already sounded an alert and asked states and Union territories to prepare for any eventuality.
Following the surge, the government made random coronavirus testing mandatory for 2 per cent of passengers arriving in each international flight from Saturday.
Modi and Mandaviya have held meetings to assess the India's preparedness to deal with a fresh surge in cases.
Mock drills were held at health facilities across India on Tuesday to check operational readiness to deal with any spurt in Covid-19 infection, with Mandaviya saying the country has to remain alert and prepared as cases are rising in the world.
The latest spike in cases is being driven by Omicron sub-variant BF.7.
What do the experts say?
The official sources said the transmissibility of this BF.7 sub-variant is very high. A person infected with the sub-variant can further infect 16 persons.
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Anurag Agrawal, director of the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) said the likelihood of a new big Covid-19 wave in India is very low.
"No quick steps are required right now beyond what is already done," Agrawal told PTI.
Satyajit Rath, adjunct faculty at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, said, "There is no reason to expect that the Chinese situation, which is specifically shaped by the zero-Covid policies that the country implemented for almost three years, will predict anything in India," said Satyajit Rath, adjunct faculty at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune.
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China has been witnessing thousands of cases daily in the last few weeks. On Wednesday, India logged 188 new coronavirus infections with a daily positivity rate of 0.14 per cent and the weekly positivity rate recorded at 0.18 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said.
"The Indian situation, with widespread actual infection in addition to vaccination, is quite different. And the Covid virus is after all spreading and therefore mutating in communities worldwide, not just in China, so new variants are emerging everywhere," Rath told reporters.
(With PTI Inputs)
