NEW DELHI: India will make a negative COVID-19 test mandatory for flyers from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand from Jan 1.
Indian Minister of Health Mansukh Mandaviya said travellers from these countries and territories would have to upload their test reports on an India government website before their departure.
“This is being done in view of the evolving COVID-19 situation across the world,” the health ministry said in a statement, adding that the test should be taken within 72 hours of travel to India.
The new requirement for a COVID-19 test would be in addition to the random tests on 2 per cent of all international passengers arriving in India.
The High Commission of India in Singapore on Wednesday had said that travellers from Singapore do not need to undergo mandatory COVID-19 tests when they visit the country.
India joins the United States, Japan, Italy and Taiwan in imposing mandatory COVID-19 tests for travellers from China, amid a COVID-19 surge there after authorities relaxed strict “zero-COVID” rules.
Top health officials from the European Union were holding talks on Thursday to try to coordinate very different views on how to respond to China’s decision to lift its COVID-19 restrictions amid a wave of infections there.
