Passengers arriving in India from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand will have to produce a negative Covid test report from January 1, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Thursday.
The passengers must undertake the Covid test within 72 hours of flying to India and upload the negative report from the RT-PCR test on the Air Suvidha portal before their departure.
Already many countries, including the USA, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Italy have announced testing requirements for passengers from China.
So far, Covid situation is under complete control in India and cases have remained within the range of 200-300 per day. According to the Union Health Ministry data on Thursday, India recorded 268 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases increased to 3,552.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.11 per cent while the weekly positivity was pegged at 0.17 per cent, the Ministry said.
The Government has taken several precautionary measures to avert a possible explosion of Covid-19 in the wake of a surge in the number of cases in several Asian countries including China.
Covid protocol has been especially enforced on airports where random testing of international passengers on their arrival in India is being carried out irrespective of their port of departure.
Last week, the Government made random coronavirus testing mandatory for two per cent of passengers arriving on each international flight.
Meanwhile, Mandaviya has asked pharma companies to ensure adequate stocks and availability of all drugs, including those for Covid management, in the supply chain up to the retail level amid rise in coronavirus cases in some countries.
The Minister reviewed the status, adequacy of Covid-19 management drugs and production capacities with representatives of pharma companies through a virtual conference here so that India is equipped to effectively handle any situation.
This review meeting was taken in view of the spike in Covid-19 cases in some countries including China, an official statement said.
Through a presentation, the Minister was briefed regarding the evolving global scenario. Mandaviya appreciated the pharma companies for their invaluable contribution during the pandemic in the country, the statement said.
“India’s pharmaceutical industry is robust, resilient and responsive. It is due to their strength that we could not only meet our down demand during the pandemic, but also be in a position to supply medicines to 150 countries,” he said. This was achieved without any fall in quality and no hike in the price of the medicines, he stressed.
The pharma companies were asked to keep a close watch on the global supply chain scenario, the statement said. They were also asked to closely monitor production and availability of APIs as well as formulations of essential medicines for Covid management, it said.
They were asked to ensure adequate stocks and availability of all drugs including Covid drugs in the supply chain up to the retail level.
The pharma companies expressed confidence that they will be able to manage the supply chain of Covid drugs, the statement said.