India restarts random coronavirus test at airports

In the wake of new spurt of Covid-19 in some parts of the world, including China, India today restarted random sampling for Coronavious test of incoming passengers at all international airports.

Initially, two per cent of the incoming travellers will have to give samples after arriving at the airports, Indian Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told parliament today, reports BSS. 

He said after collecting samples, the passengers will be allowed to go and the RT-PCR tests will be carried out. They will be contacted if there‍‍`s a positive case, and a decision on line of treatment be taken.

But, he said, that India has no any immediate plan to stop flights from countries, which reported new cases of the virus. 

The government is also thinking reintroducing "Air Suvidha" forms or complete vaccination proof for passenger coming from the countries, which reported the highest number of Covid-19 cases, reports said. 

Meanwhile, the government had asked states and union territories (UTs) to gear up surveillance against the new variety of coronavirus along with increasing genome sequencing of positive cases to detect the new variants of coronavirus.

The union health ministry also urged people to follow appropriate covid protocol by maintaining social distancing, using face masks at crowded places, washing hands with soaps and use sanitizers. 

Earlier, the Indian Medical Association, the country‍‍`s top medical body, today appealed to the public to follow Covid appropriate behaviour with immediate effect. 

In an advisory, it listed necessary steps to overcome "the impending Covid outbreak, including wearing face masks in all public places, maintaining social distancing, regular handwashing with soap and water or sanitizers. 

In another development, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with his cabinet colleagues and top officials of the government to review the Covid situation in India after four cases of the Omicron sub-variant driving a massive China surge were found in the country.