Some of the last remaining relics of the Covid-19 pandemic travel era are beginning to be taken away. Last week, we heard about how wearing a mask onboard a flight was optional rather than compulsory. Now, more such remnants are going away.

The government of India discontinues vaccination/testing requirements for travel to India.

The Government of India had, earlier on, made it easier for many nationalities to travel to India when they said that vaccinated folks did not need to present a test to travel into India. However, the requirement to fill up the Air Suvidha portal for contact tracing was still retained. Now, all of this is going away.

Here is the new guideline issued today, effective as of 0001 hours IST on November 22, 2022.

As you can see, there are three key changes compared to the earlier stance:

• There is no requirement for vaccination that will be implemented any longer. A full vaccination course is good to have but not a must-have.
• There is no requirement to fill up the Air Suvidha portal before travelling to India anymore.
• There is no requirement, hence for kids to be tested before travel (since they are usually not vaccinated).

Bottomline

India was one of the last few remaining countries with Covid-19 contact tracing requirements. These are now going away, apart from the requirement to have a full course of vaccination to enter India. Now, there is only one irritant that I can think of. The domestic health filing, before every domestic flight in India, that is to be filled up online.

What do you make of the relaxed requirements for entering India?

---

Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.

(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)

We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.