India to randomly test international visitors for COVID-19

NEW DELHI (AP) India has started randomly testing international passengers arriving at its airports for COVID-19, the country’s health minister said on Thursday, citing an increase in cases in neighboring China.

Mansukh Mandaviya announced the new rule in parliament, where he also urged state governments to increase surveillance for any new coronavirus variants and send samples from all positive cases to genome sequencing labs.

Mandaviya also asked the public to wear masks and maintain social distancing, although there is no official mandate for either.

India relaxed its mask-wearing rules earlier this year after coronavirus cases began to fall sharply. It has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world since the start of the pandemic, but confirmed infections have fallen sharply in recent months.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, India currently has around 3,400 active coronavirus cases.

Cases have risen in neighboring China since it eased tough restrictions earlier this month following rare public protests.

Mandaviya said the Indian government has no plans yet to halt flights from countries where new cases have been reported.

Rising cases in China have also prompted Indian health experts to issue advisories for the public to wear face masks and receive booster doses of vaccine.

On Thursday, India’s leading medical body, the Indian Medical Association, also called on people to wear masks in all public places and get vaccine boosters. He urged people to avoid public gatherings such as weddings, political and social gatherings and international travel.

For now, the situation is not alarming and therefore there is no need to panic. Prevention is better than cure, he said in a statement.

India, a country of nearly 1.4 billion people, has administered more than 2.2 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, but only 27% of the population has received a third booster dose.