Kerala to Tamil Nadu travel will need COVID-19 negative report

New rule to be enforced from August 5.

August 02, 2021 12:59 am | Updated 08:20 am IST - Chennai

Passengers arriving in PPE at Chennai Airport on August 1, 2021.

Passengers arriving in PPE at Chennai Airport on August 1, 2021.

Chennai Passengers travelling from Kerala to Tamil Nadu from August 5 can enter only if they produce a RT-PCR test negative certificate, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ma. Subramanian has said.

Passengers coming by any mode of transport should carry the RT-PCR negative report.

Revenue, medical and police department will check the movement of people and ensure that only those with negative report of RT-PCR test enter the State from Kerala, according to a press release. The certificates will be verified at 13 border check posts. In the wake of an increase in the case count over the last few days, this decision had been taken to curb the spread of COVID-19 early.

The reason for initiating this measure from August 5 is to give people time to get tested and get a negative certificate to enter the State.

Meanwhile, Mr. Subramanian conducted an inspection at the Chennai airport on Sunday. He said the visit was to oversee how the passengers, both international and domestic, were screened and tested.

Kerala had been witnessing a spike in cases and while that government had been taking steps to control the spread, the State government had said it was crucial to check those who entered Tamil Nadu, the release said.

Vaccine certificate

People who had taken both doses of vaccine, with the second dose being taken 14 days prior to the day of their entry, should show the vaccination certificate.

At present, international passengers arriving from London, Brazil, South Africa, Europe and West Asia have to go through thermal screening and RT-PCR test on arrival and the lab at the airport provides results in about four hours. For the international passengers from other countries, thermal scanning was done. There are plans to set up a facility for carrying out rapid RT-PCR test as well at Chennai airport this week.

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