This comes days after the government, while urging people to wear masks in public places and getting Covid vaccine booster doses, had said there were “no changes with regard to aviation in the country as of now.”
Here are the new steps the government has announced to keep a possible Covid wave at bay.
RT-PCR tests for some travellers
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya Saturday said RT-PCR tests would be made mandatory for passengers from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand entering India.
Passengers from these countries will have to undergo thermal screening at airports and those found Covid positive or with fever will be quarantined.
#WATCH | Air Suvidha portal to be implemented for passengers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong & Thailand, RT-PCR to be made mandatory for them. After arriving in India, if they test positive, they’ll be quarantined: Union Health Min Dr Mandaviya pic.twitter.com/ST7ypqmy1V
— ANI (@ANI) December 24, 2022
Mandaviya, speaking to reporters in Gandhinagar, also said that passengers from these countries need to fill up the ‘Air Suvidha’ form to declare their health status.
The Air Suvidha portal was launched in August 2020 through which international passengers had to mandatority submit details of their journey and Covid vaccination or testing status. The pre-arrival self-registration portal also enabled authorities to ascertain whether a person was arriving from a high-risk region. The requirement to fill this up was done away with in November.
“Yesterday, a Covid-19 advisory was issued. Through newspaper advertisements, people are being made aware. In Parliament, I made a statement in which I urged people to mandatorily use masks, maintain social distancing and follow COVID-appropriate behaviour so that in future, India can be saved from the new BF.7 variant of the virus,” Mandaviya was quoted as saying by PTI.
In addition, as reported by PTI, the Health Ministry has asked the Civil Aviation ministry to ensure random testing at airports of two per cent of the passengers arriving in each international flight from Saturday, to minimise the risk of any new variant of the coronavirus entering the country.
Centre asks states to ensure availability of oxygen
With the second wave of Covid-19 witnessing an oxygen crisis in parts of the country, the Centre on Saturday urged states and Union Territories to ensure the availability of Liquid Medical Oxygen, an adequate inventory of cylinders, and functional life support equipment such as ventilators at hospitals.
According to PTI, the health ministry asked states and UTs to ensure that Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen generating plants are kept fully functional and regular mock drills are conducted on them.
In a letter to all states and UTs, Health Ministry Additional Secretary Manohar Agnani said the operationalisation and maintenance of these medical infrastructure is of utmost importance to meet any eventuality even though the number of cases in the country is low at present.
“The availability of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) in the health facilities and uninterrupted supply chain for their refilling should be ensured. Adequate Inventory of Oxygen Cylinders along with backup stocks and robust refilling system is maintained,” the letter said, according to PTI.
Oxygen control rooms should be reinvigorated for prompt resolutions of oxygen-related issues and challenges, the letter said.
Genome sequencing to check for new variants
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, the Centre directed all states and UTs to sequence all positive Covid samples on a daily basis to check for possible new variants.
In a letter, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, “In view of the sudden spurt of cases being witnessed in Japan, United States of America, Republic of Korea, Brazil and China, it is essential to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive case samples to track the variants through Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) network. Such an exercise will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures for the same.”
The Covid situation in China
Hospitals and morgues in parts of China are burdened as Covid cases spread, the AP reported on Saturday.
According to the AP, while the Chinese government has reported only seven Covid deaths since Zero Covid restrictions were relaxed on December 7, they are likely to be undercounted.
“On Tuesday, a Chinese health official said that China only counts deaths from pneumonia or respiratory failure in its official COVID-19 death toll. Experts have forecast between a million and 2 million deaths in China next year, and the World Health Organization warned that Beijing’s way of counting would “underestimate the true death toll”,” the AP report said.
Experts have pointed out that the situation in India right now is markedly different from China, as most people here have natural immunity through previous infections and have also been vaccinated.
