India makes RT-PCR must for passengers from 7 more nations

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Amid fear of new COVID-19 strains, RT-PCR test is compulsory for passengers arriving from seven more countries, including South Africa, Bangladesh and China, the Centre said on Thursday.

In a letter to all states and Union territories, the government said considering reports of new mutations in SARS-CoV-2 and rising number of Variants of Concern and Variants of Interest globally, seven countries have been added in the list of countries whose travellers will have to get another RT-PCR test done upon landing at Indian airports apart from the one they need to get before embarking on the flight.

These seven countries are South Africa, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand and Zimbabwe. In earlier guidelines issued in February, passengers from only the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East had to get the RT-PCR test done again upon landing at Indian airports.