New Delhi (TIP): Amid fear of new Covid-19 strains, RT-PCR test is compulsory for passengers arriving from seven more countries, including South Africa, Bangladesh and China, the Centre said on Thursday, Sept 2.

In a letter to all states and Union territories (UTs), the government said considering reports of new mutations in SARS-CoV-2 and rising number of Variants of Concern (VOCs) and Variants of Interest (Vols) globally, seven countries have been added in the list of countries whose travellers will have to get another RT-PCR test done upon landing at Indian airports apart from the one they need to get before embarking on the flight.

These seven countries are South Africa, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.

In earlier guidelines issued in February, passengers from only the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East had to get the RT-PCR test done again upon landing at Indian airports. The Centre also asked states/UTs to ensure strict compliance to these guidelines so that the import of Vols and VoCs to India from other countries may be prevented.

“The states/UTs must also strengthen their Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) activities being coordinated through the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) network of laboratories, by sending a fixed percentage of samples of positive cases among international travelers for genome sequencing to the respective INSACOG Genome Sequencing Laboratories tagged with them,” Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in the letter.