• December 31, 2022

Covid-19 travel update from India from Jan 1: Govt issues new guidelines on Dec 29 for arrivals (Read Govt Note)

Covid-19 travel update from India from Jan 1: Govt issues new guidelines on Dec 29 for arrivals (Read Govt Note)

NEW DELHI Dec 31: From January 1, 2023, all passengers arriving on international flights from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Japan must present a pre-departure RT-PCR negative test report.

Airlines are directed to modify their check-in functionalities to incorporate the changes and issue boarding passes only to those international passengers travelling from the six countries who have submitted self-declaration forms on the Air Suvidha portal, the ministry said in a communication.

“Air Suvidha portal self-declaration has been made operational for passengers travelling in all international flights from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Japan, with a provision to allow these international travellers arriving in India to upload negative RT-PCR test reports as well as to submit self-declaration form,” it said.

RT-PCR testing should have been done 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey. The current practice of random testing of 2 per cent of arriving passengers in each international flight will also continue.

These decisions have been taken amid rising cases of coronavirus infections in various parts of the world and reports regarding the circulation of variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the six countries.

The ministry on Friday sent the communication regarding the revised guidelines to all scheduled commercial airlines, airport operators, and chief secretaries/ administrators of states/Union Territories, among others. On December 29, there were 83,003 international passenger arrivals, as per the latest official data.

On December 29, 2022, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India (MoHFW) once again issued new ‘Guidelines for International Arrivals’ in light of the increasing trajectory of COVID-19 cases being noted in some countries across the world.

The new guidelines provide protocols to be complied by international travellers as well as points of entry (airports, seaports and land border) and shall be valid for all flights landing in India w.e.f. 1st January 2023 (10.00 Hrs IST) till further notice.

The guideline mentions that, while planning for travel, all travellers should preferably be fully vaccinated as per the approved primary schedule of vaccination against COVID-19 in their country. See the government circular.