New Delhi: The government has issued a fresh set of travel guidelines as two new, highly more infectious strains of Covid – the South African and the Brazilian strains – have been detected in India.
According to the Health Ministry, the new rules apply to all incoming international passengers except those from the UK, Europe and Middle East.
As per the new rules, only passengers who test negative in RT-PCR tests 72 hours ahead of departure will be allowed to board the aircraft. The exception will be passengers who are travelling because of a death in the family.
The Health Ministry tweeted: “Attention Passengers! All incoming international travellers (except travellers coming on flights originating from UK, Europe and Middle East) should make sure that they follow the guidelines issued by @MoHFW_India”.
The South African strain of the virus has been detected in four people and the Brazil variant seen in one so far, the Indian Council of Medical Research has said.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) announced that Pune-based National Institute of Virology was in the process of isolating and culturing the South African variant in its lab. The NIV has already readied a culture of the Brazilian variant for testing.