In a May 4 advisory, the ICMR had recommended that ‘the need for RTPCR test in healthy individuals undertaking inter-state domestic travel may be completely removed to reduce the load on laboratories’.

Now we hear that the government of India is thinking of doing away with the RT-PCR test report requirement for passengers who have been jabbed with both their doses of a COVID vaccine.

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Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, has stated that a discussion is underway among representatives of different ministries and other stakeholders on the issue of a hassle-free travel mechanism. "A joint team from several ministries and stakeholders, including the Health Department, are in discussion to take the final decision on allowing travelling by air without an RT-PCR test for those who have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine,” he sad.

A number of states, particularly the ones with higher caseloads, require fliers to carry negative RT-PCR reports at the moment. The Civil Aviation Minister stated that he considers health to be a state subject, and that the states currently experiencing a huge number of daily caseloads have the sole right to urge fliers to carry a mandatory negative RT-PCR report to enter.

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Meanwhile, India has raised objections to the concept of vaccine passports for passengers travelling internationally, terming it as a 'discriminatory idea'. In the current juncture of the pandemic, the population in developing countries have a lower percentage of vaccine coverage when compared to developed countries, and therefore, vaccine passports could prove to be highly discriminatory, said Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan at a recent meeting of G7 countries.