Covid alarm: Air Suvidha likely to be mandatory for passengers from 5 countries

Amid fears of Covid surge, India is likely to make the updation of coronavirus test status on Air Suvidha mandatory for passengers from five countries, sources told India Today TV on Wednesday.    

Air Suvidha is a portal where one must upload a negative coronavirus test report before taking a flight.

This is likely to be made mandatory for passengers from countries like Thailand (Bangkok) China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore.    

Passengers planning to travel to India can only board the flights after uploading the test results on the Air Suvidha portal. This exercise will likely begin next week for international travellers from these countries. 

Last week, India made RT-PCR test mandatory for passengers coming from these countries in the wake of the alarming rise of Covid infections in China, and four other countries. 

The following 40 days are going to be crucial as India may see a surge of Covid cases in mid of January going by previous trends, sources told news agency ANI. 

India had mandated contactless self-declaration at Air Suvidha Portal on 7 December 2021 but discontinued just last month. The process was stopped after some travellers said the Covid situation had abated in the country and that there was no need to force travellers to update the latest test report. 

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said Air Suvidha was introduced when Covid was at its peak, aiming to track people landing in Indian airports. "With normal life back, why is it still mandatory for flyers to India to submit Air Suvidha?" he asked, and urged Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to review this requirement and "lift the dead hand of bureaucracy". 

What is Air Suvidha 

Developed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Air Suvidha is a digital portal where passengers travelling to India must provide their travel details and final stay along with RT-PCR test and vaccination status.  

In December last year, India mandated all international passengers arriving in the country to declare their current health status prior to boarding on the portal along with the required documents: copy of passport, PCR negative certificate from a test conducted within 72 hours of departure and the vaccination certificate.

For immigration, the copy received in the e-mail was made essential on arrival in India.