AS MUCH as 64 per cent of respondents in a survey conducted over the Government’s decision to allow scheduled international operations to and from India from December 15 want the Modi dispensation to reconsider it in the wake of a new COVID variant. Conducted immediately after the Government announced the resumption of scheduled international flight services, which remain suspended since March 2020 due to the pandemic, the survey carried out by the online platform LocalCircles, also revealed that some 72 per cent of Indians want the Government to implement mandatory RT-PCR test for Covid at boarding as well for international travellers coming from countries with high TPR.

 

The Government on Friday announced revising travel guidelines for international travellers. As per the latest notification issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, scheduled commercial international passenger services to and from India will resume from 15th December 2021 barring 14 countries classified as “at risk”. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has categorised these international countries into three categories— “not at risk”, “at risk”, and air bubble, with separate restrictions and bubble flight arrangements, will continue as is with some capacity changes. The revised travel guidelines, however, come as several other countries are reimposing travel restrictions in view of the newly discovered and possibly vaccine-resistant Covid-19 variant — B.1.1529, as per LocalCircles.