The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday asked states not to insist on a negative RTPCR report for entry if asymptomatic persons are vaccinated with both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine and 15 days have lapsed from the date of the second dose.
“Asymptomatic persons who have been vaccinated with both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine and 15 days have lapsed, should be exempted from mandatory requirement of possessing a negative RTPCR report or RAT test on their entry into a state,” the ministry said in a new guideline.
The vaccinated individuals must have their final vaccination certificate issued through the Co-WIN portal. There shall also be no restrictions on interstate travel by air, rail, water or road.
The fresh advisory comes at a time when states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Tripura are continuing with the travel restriction rules seeking mandatory RTPCR reports while West Bengal, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka impose partial restrictions on the basis of a traveller’s origin and destination.
For instance, Karnataka needs test results 72 hours prior to the entry only if a person is coming from Kerala and Maharashtra whereas West Bengal needs such a certificate if a person is coming from Pune, Mumbai and Chennai.
In Uttar Pradesh, if someone travels to Kanpur from Delhi or to Agra from anywhere in the country, the person is tested on arrival. However, there is no such test in one land at Varanasi. Also, there is no requirement of testing for travelling to Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Telangana.
In its new guidelines on domestic travel, the ministry said because of a declining trajectory of Covid-19 cases following a peak seen in mid-May, the protocol for domestic travel has been revised. In case of any unusual surge in any state, the local administration is free to impose travel restrictions.
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(Published 25 August 2021, 15:29 IST)
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