As the second wave of Covid-19 fades in India, states have moved forward to open up their lockdowns and their travel restrictions again. At last count, per our update, there were 9 states and union territories which were welcoming fully vaccinated travellers without any sort of tests. Now, it is time for an update.

Maharashtra opens up for travel without RT-PCR reports for fully vaccinated travellers

A few days ago, a missive from the Mumbai BMC commissioner went viral, where he had recommended to the Maharashtra Government about an update to the RT-PCR negative requirements for arriving in Mumbai, and asked for the removal of this requirement from those who are arriving into Mumbai and are fully vaccinated.

The Government of Maharashtra, has however, made it better for the fully vaccinated travellers. As per an order issued last evening (July 15, 2021), for those passengers who are fully-vaccinated, they no longer need to present an RT-PCR negative test on arriving into any airport at Maharashtra. The only requirement, is that the travellers are vaccinated in India, as is implied by the requirement to present a CoWin certificate of full vaccination. Also, 15 days need to pass since your final vaccination, to be able to travel without the RT-PCR reports into any Maharashtra airport.

For those who are still in the 90%+ of Indians who are not vaccinated, the good news is, now you have 72 hours from after your report is generated to travel into Mumbai. My strategy, however, continues to remain to buy tickets into Mumbai after getting the RT-PCR test negative reports as I wait for my second dose to be bookable.

Bottomline

If you are fully vaccinated in India, you no longer need an RT-PCR test report to arrive at any Maharashtra airports. And if you are not, you now have 72 hours to travel after your negative RT-PCR test is reported, rather than the earlier requirement of 48 hours.

What do you think of the new requirements by Maharashtra for travel into the state?

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