India’s main federal opposition Congress Party has called upon the government to impose a complete ban on flights from and to China, as several of its Members of Parliament (MPs) advised the government to further step-up vigil of all international passengers.
Digvijaya Singh, a two time state chief and currently an upper house (Rajya Sabha) MP, told a press conference in Hyderabad that the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) must order a “100 per cent thermal screening of passengers” arriving at the international airports.
Besides China, Singh also urged the Indian authorities to impose travel restrictions on flights from other countries, which have seen a surge in coronavirus infections driven by Omicron subvariant BF7.
Singh noted that the new variant hasn’t impacted the India’s overall epidemiological situation as of now, but stated that authorities must remain “alert”.
Another Congress MP, Manish Tewari, has also backed calls on imposing travel restrictions on passengers flying from China, adding that those arriving from the US, Japan and South Korea should also be “monitored” at the airports.
“Stringent Covid protocols” should be put in place across the whole country, he also demanded.
India’s Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told the parliament on Thursday that 2 per cent of international passemger arrivals would have to undergo an RT-PCR test at the airports.
Subsequently, the civil aviation ministry said that the flights’ crew would have to report suspicious cases to the immigration for a test.
India Steps up Vigil to Check COVID Infections
The Indian health ministry said in a statement on Friday that it is in the process of preparing fresh guidelines for Christmas and New Year festivities in order to check the potential surge in infections, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned the federal and state agencies against any complacency whatsoever.
The government has asked the state governments to issue guidelines for Covid-appropriate behaviour in view of the global situation.
The health ministry said that trends during the previous Covid surges in 2020 and 2021 have suggested that Covid “starts spreading from China, Korea, Brazil, and then comes to South Asia”.
“It has reached India in 20–35 days. We have to remain vigilant," it cautioned.
At the same time, the outbreaks in other countries could be attributed to weak vaccines, low level of vaccination, the lack of natural immunity and abrupt lifting of curbs, it added.
India has only reported four cases of Omicron subvariant BF7, the first in July and the last one in November. India’s Covid caseload has averaged just over 150 a day, as per the health ministry.
According to the health officials, the Covid positivity rate in the country has been declining in week-by-week terms and stood at 0.14 per cent for the week ending 22 December.