India has removed Bangladesh from its list of Omicron “at risk” countries and Ghana and Tanzania have been added to the same for the purpose of mandating additional measures for arrivals from there. The government has also mandated contactless self-declaration on Air Suvidha Portal.
The change in the rules for international arrivals came even as India recorded 6,822 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Tuesday. This is the lowest number of fresh cases of infection reported by the country in the last 558 days. “The exemption forms from Air Suvidha portal have been discontinued, and filling of the details have been made compulsory for all international passengers arriving in India. All international passengers arriving in India are mandated to declare their current health status prior to boarding on the Air Suvidha Portal along with the required documents: Copy of Passport, PCR Negative Certificate from a test conducted within 72 hours of departure and the vaccination certificate. For immigration, the copy received in e-mail is essential on arrival in India and has to be verified at the airport health officer (APHO) counter,” the aviation ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
In a tweet, Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said: “Took stock of the preparedness, testing capacities, and the situation on the ground with regard to crowd management at both private and AAI airports. Have put an action plan with 8 compliances on immigration
queues, expanding RT-PCR service providers, ramping up help desks & forex counters, along with seamless floor management. Rest assured, ministry is monitoring the situation on a daily basis and passengers shall not face any inconvenience at airports.”
Meanwhile, asked whether the government is considering giving booster shots to improve immunity, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar informed the Rajya Sabha: “The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covie-19 (NEGVAC) are deliberating and considering scientific evidences related to dose schedule of Covid-19 vaccines and the need for booster dose.”
A report from Thane said at least 12 people are untraceable out of 318 people who have returned from foreign countries to the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation area of Maharashtra’s Thane. This comes amid rising concerns over Omicron. “318 people returned from the foreign countries recently in Thane’s Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation area. 12 people are untraceable. A search operation is on to locate them,” said KDMC chief Vijay Sooryavanshi. “Some of the passengers who returned cannot be reached as their mobile phones are switched off whereas the addresses that the others gave are locked up,” he said. A report from Jaipur said all the nine Omicron variant patients in Rajasthan’s Jaipur are asymptotic, said Dr Narottam Sharma, Chief Medical Health Officer, Jaipur on Monday. Meanwhile, the Bengaluru-based doctor, one of the two earliest cases of Omicron variant of Covid-19 to be detected in the country, has tested positive for the virus again, while the other, a South African national who flew out of Bengaluru without informing the authorities, has been booked by the police.
The South African, of Gujarati origin, who was quarantined here, later flew to Dubai. “It is true that the doctor who was infected with Omicron variant has once again tested positive for covid-19,” a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike official said. Requesting anonymity, the official said the doctor is under isolation, but was asymptomatic.
Out of the new Covid-19 cases recorded across India, Kerala recorded 3,277 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. Moreover, the active caseload in the country has now reached 95,014 which is the lowest in the last 554 days. The active cases in the country account for less than 1% of total cases, currently at 0.27% which is the lowest since March last year. With 10,004 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the cumulative recovery tally in India now stands at 3,40,79,612. The recovery rate is currently at 98.36%. The daily positivity rate (0.63%) is less than 2% for the last 64 days while the weekly positivity rate (0.28%) is less than 1% for the last 23 days.