The Central government is planning to do away with the mandatory RT-PCR report for those passengers who have received both jabs of a Covid-19 vaccine."A joint team from several ministries and stakeholders, including the Health Department, are in discussion to take a final decision on allowing travelling by air without an RT-PCR test for those who have received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine," Minister of Civil Aviation (MoCA) Hardeep Singh Puri told ANI. He added that this decision will not be taken alone by the MoCA, nodal agencies, including health experts who are working with the government will also contribute towards making a decision in the interests of passengers.
Currently, domestic passengers are mandatorily asked to produce negative RT-PCR report before travelling to some states, where active Covid-19 cases are still high. "Health is a state subject, and to ask passengers for a negative RT-PCR report before they enter a state is solely the right of that particular state," Puri added. The civil aviation minister said "health is a state subject, and to ask passengers for a negative RT-PCR report before they enter a state is solely the right of that particular state. "The minister further said the Indian government has raised objections against the concept of 'vaccine passport' for international passengers and has termed it as 'discriminatory.' India reported 1,14,460 new Covid-19 cases, the lowest daily surge in 60 days, and 2,677 deaths (the lowest in 42 days) in the last 24 hours, as per Health Ministry data on Sunday. In a sign of improvement in the Covid-19 situation, India has been reporting below 2 lakh Coronavirus cases for the past few weeks. As many as 189,232 patients have been cured/discharged from the hospitals, while and 2,677 succumbed deaths in the last 24 hours, Health Ministry said on Sunday.