The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said it will be mandatory for travellers from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand to undergo a Covid-19 test at their port of boarding from January 1 onwards.
Travellers from these countries will have to get an RT-PCR test done within 72 hours of undertaking the journey to India, and must upload the Covid-negative report on the Air Suvidha portal, the ministry said.
RT-PCR test has been made mandatory for flyers coming from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand from 1st January 2023. They will have to upload their reports on the Air Suvidha portal before travel.
— Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) December 29, 2022
This will be in addition to the random testing of two per cent of all international travellers being conducted at all ports across India.
China and some other countries have seen an uptick in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya held virtual meetings with representatives of pharmaceutical companies to review availability of the drugs needed for Covid-19 management, as well as the production capacities of the companies.
The companies have been asked to monitor the production and availability of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) needed for such drugs. They were also asked to keep a close watch on the global supply chain of APIs.
Health ministry officials said India is in a much better position now than at the start of the pandemic, with many APIs needed for manufacturing drugs such as paracetamol, azithromycin and dexamethasone being produced within the country itself.
“Now, the fear of India running out of essential medicines is not there. We have started manufacturing many APIs ourselves and several others are produced by countries other than China (which is witnessing a Covid-19 surge),” an official said.
At the meeting with pharmaceutical companies, minister Mandaviya said, “India’s pharmaceutical industry is robust, resilient and responsive. It is due to its strength that we could not only meet our own demand during the pandemic, but also be in a position to supply medicines to 150 countries.”
