Starting December 20th, all international travellers from 'at-risk' countries, arriving at airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad will have to compulsorily pre-book an RT-PCR test, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a notification on Tuesday.

Air Suvidha portal will be modified to allow the passengers to mandatorily pre-book the RT-PCR test if they are coming from 'at-risk' countries or have visited 'at-risk' countries in the last 14 days, said the notification.

To stabilize the system and to ensure that the passengers would not have any problem in pre-booking, payment, etc., it will be implemented in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad in the first phase, it added.

This will come into effect on December 20.

“DGCA is requested to issue advisory to all airlines to check mandatory pre-booking of their passengers before boarding the flight. In case any passenger is having any difficult in pre-booking, they may not be denied boarding, but it would be the responsibility of the airlines to identify and accompany such passengers to the registration counter at the airport for testing,” it further said.

As per the health ministry, on the list of ‘at-risk’ countries are European nations, including the UK, in addition to South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Ghana, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Hong Kong and Israel.