Amid Covid-19 fears, Centre to restart 'Air Suvidha' portal for 6 Asian countries

India plans to re-start the “Air Suvidha” portal for Covid-negative declaration for passengers coming from six Asian countries, including China, from next week after 39 passengers tested positive in random screening at the airports in the last two days, Union Health Ministry sources said on Wednesday, noting that the government was apprehending a rise in the Covid-19 cases over the next few weeks.

The portal would be operational for passengers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore, sources said. The next few days would be utilised to improve the screening and logistics facilities at airports and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya would visit Delhi airport on Thursday for a review.

In the last two days, more than 6,000 people were screened at the airports, of which 39 tested positive. The Centre, however, is unlikely to introduce the universal mask mandate and no decision has been taken on the fourth booster dose for doctors, nurses and frontline workers.

The Air Suvidha portal was launched in August 2020 for international passengers to share their negative RT-PCR test results details before they embark on the journey, but it was discontinued in November this year. Once it restarts, travelers from these six countries would have to upload their RT-PCR negative certificates before boarding.

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The random screening at airports would continue.

Sources said the ministry would closely watch the Covid-19 scenario for the next 40 days as it would be critical to determine whether BF-17 – the SARS-CoV-2 variant causing havoc in China – would cause a surge in India.

The health ministry sources, however, didn’t respond to queries on whether the government plans to increase the level of testing to pick up the early signals of a surge. So far, the government only ordered random sampling of 2 per cent of international passengers besides asking the states to send more samples for genetic sequencing.

A nationwide dry-run of India’s Covid-19 preparedness on Tuesday has revealed availability of more than 2.79 lakh isolation beds and nearly 2.45 lakh oxygen-supported beds. In addition, there are nearly 65,000 ICU beds and 50,000 ICU beds with functional ventilators. “But even with a surge, the number of hospitalisations would be less this time,” the sources said.