The government had made it mandatory for travellers from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and Japan to upload a negative RT-PCR test, done not more than 72 hours before the journey, on the Air Suvidha portal from the past six weeks.
Due to declining number in Covid-19 cases, The Union Health Ministry issued a letter announcing that these restrictions would be uplifted from February 13. India has continued to see a decline in the number of Covid-19 cases, with less than 100 being reported each day. As per the World Health Organization, there was an 89% decline in the number of new infections confirmed over the last 28 days.
Therefore, "The ministry is dropping the existing requirements of pre-departure Covid-19 testing and uploading of self-health declaration on Ministry of Civil Aviation’s ‘Air Suvidha’ portal applicable for international travellers coming from or via China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Japan," mentioned in a letter from Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan to Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal.
Though the practice of random testing of 2% of all international travellers, will continue in order to monitor infections due to mutated variants of SARS-COV-2 according to the letter.
Due to surge in the Covid cases in China and neighbouring countries in December, the government had restarted random testing of 2% of all international travellers from December 24. It was not done in November when Covid-19 cases were declining.
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