39 int’l travellers test Covid positive at airports across India

After the Centre re-started random testing of incoming passengers amid the rising scare of Covid-19 in several countries, a total of 39 international travellers have been found Covid positive across different airports of the country. The random testing for Covid infection at airports was started on December 24. In the last three days, a total of 498 international travellers have been screened at different airports. Out of that, 39 have tested positive and all the samples have been sent for genome sequencing, a source said on Wednesday. It also includes four foreign nationals who tested positive at the Gaya airport on Tuesday. They had come to attend the Dalai Lama’s religious programme in Gaya. As per the source, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is also expected to visit Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport to review the situation on Thursday. Meanwhile, India reported 188 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hrs, against 157 cases reported the previous day, according to the Union Health Ministry. The active caseload in the country presently stands at 3,468, accounting for 0.01 per cent of the country’s total positive cases. Amid a possible Covid surge, the Centre has asked the states to ramp up genome sequencing to track the new variants. The hospitals across the country on Tuesday conducted mock drills to ensure operational readiness of the health facilities for the management of Covid-19. In view of a possible surge, the Centre had asked the states to carry out mock drills with focus on the geographically representative availability of health facilities covering all districts, bed capacities like isolation beds, oxygen-supported isolation beds, ICU beds and ventilator-supported beds along with and optimal availability of human resources.