India will make COVID-19 molecular testing mandatory for people arriving directly or indirectly from the UK, South Africa and Brazil, in a bid to contain the spread of the identified variants in those countries and that would be more contagious.
India, which has reported the highest number of overall COVID-19 cases after the United States, detected the South African variant in four people in January, and the Brazilian one this month.
The government has said that the South African and Brazilian strains can more easily infect a person’s lungs than the UK mutation. India has so far reported 187 cases of Kentish variant infection, the region where it was first identified on British soil.
Late on Wednesday, New Delhi said that from next week airlines will have to segregate incoming travelers from those countries. India does not have direct flights to Brazil and South Africa, and most of those traveling from those countries generally transit through airports in the Middle East.
“All travelers arriving from / in transit via flights originating in the UK, Europe or the Middle East must undergo mandatory self-pay confirmatory molecular tests upon arrival,” said India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. it’s a statement.
All travelers will also need to bring a recent negative COVID report before boarding any flight to India, except in extraordinary circumstances such as the death of a family member.
India’s COVID-19 infections rose 12,881 to 11 million in the past 24 hours, while deaths totaled 101 to more than 156,000, the largest daily increase in cases in a week. The states of Kerala and Maharashtra have seen a recent spike in cases possibly due to further reopening of activities.
A government serosurvey released this month said nearly 300 million of India’s 1.35 billion people would already be infected with the virus. The country has administered 9.2 million doses of vaccines since its campaign began on January 16.