Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday said that with reports of new mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the rising number of variants of concern and interest, international passengers coming in from South Africa, Bangladesh, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, etc., will now undergo RT-PCR tests on arrival in India.
Also read: Coronavirus updates — September 2, 2021
“Passengers from the U.K., Europe and the Middle East are already required to take this test. International passengers are to undergo pre-arrival RT-PCR testing at least 72 hours before boarding and only asymptomatic passengers are allowed to board a flight to India. Now, these latest revisions have been communicated to the States to ensure strict compliance so that the import of variants into India may be prevented,” he explained.
He added that in case of symptomatic and/or positive international travellers, States must continue to implement stringent public health measures of contact tracing, quarantine, testing and ensuring COVID-19-appropriate behaviour.
The Ministry has also written to States and Union Territories asking them to strengthen their Whole Genome Sequencing activities, which are critical to establishing clinical epidemiological correlations.
The Health Secretary stated that the second COVID-19 surge is far from over and that, currently, 69% of COVID-19 cases are from Kerala. He added that Kerala currently has more than 1 lakh active cases, while four States — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh — have between 10,000 to 1 lakh active cases.
“Forty-two districts in the country are still reporting more than 100 new cases each day, which is a cause of concern. However, India has now managed to fully vaccinate 16% of its adult population, while 54% has got one shot,” Mr. Bhushan said.
He added that Sikkim, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Himachal Pradesh have administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccines to 100% of their 18-plus population.
Meanwhile, reiterating the need to continue wearing masks even after being fully vaccinated, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava said that mass gatherings should be avoided, and full vaccination should be made a pre-requisite for all gatherings. He added that India currently has about 300 cases of the Delta Plus variant but assured that the vaccine works well in these cases.
Also speaking at the conference, NITI Aayog Member (Health) V.K. Paul said that with the festive season round the corner, people shouldn’t take the virus lightly.
“The problems with the virus still continue and we have to be careful. Unfavourable mutations can cause a problem. Pregnant women must get their vaccination for the safety of their child and themselves. Also, India is looking at evidence of the COVID vaccine booster dose requirement and a decision will be reached after due diligence,” he said.
