Published: Just now
India has started doing random covid tests on passengers arriving from other countries at India’s airports. This is stated by the country’s health minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
According to Madaviya, the measure, which was introduced on Thursday, is a consequence of the increased number of people infected with covid-19 in neighboring China. But he also said that India currently has no plans to stop entry from countries where new covid cases are detected.
The Minister of Health also calls on the states to increase surveillance of new corona variants and to send all positive tests to the laboratory for genome sequencing.
Mansukh Mandaviya also appealed to the public to wear face mask and practice social distancing even though there is no legal requirement to do so.
India relaxed the face mask rules earlier this year when the number of covid-infected people in the country dropped dramatically. According to official figures, around 3,400 people in India have tested positive for covid now.