Centre mandates negative RT-PCR test report for all international passengers

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Health on Wednesday declared that negative RT-PCR test report shall be mandatory for all international passengers coming to India.

The passangers flying to India will have to fill a self declaration form (SDF) as per the Health Ministry.

The COVID-19 RT-PCR report should have been conducted within 72 hrs prior to undertaking the journey. It has to be uploaded on the same portal.

Each passenger shall also submit a declaration with respect to authenticity of the report and will be liable for criminal prosecution, if found otherwise.

All passengers will be advised to download Aarogya Setu app on their mobile devices.

Airlines will only allow boarding to those passengers who have filled in the Self Declaration Form on the Air Suvidha portal, and haveuploaded the negative RT-PCR test report.

At the time of boarding the flight, only asymptomatic travellers will be allowed to board after thermal screening.

Meanwhile, India logged 14,623 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,41,08,996, while the active cases declined to 1,78,098, the lowest in 229 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 4,52,651 with 197 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.