Indian Government proposes fully-vaccinated flyers should no longer need RT-PCR tests for domestic flying

Most states in India have been mandating RT-PCR reports for those arriving in their state, in an attempt to stem the inflow of passengers who might have been infected with Covid-19 and not known about it. The irritating part for me personally has not been the fact that a report has been needed, but the fact that different states have different asks. For instance, after Mumbai asking for a report which was within 72-hours from sample collection, it is now a within 48-hour sample collection ask now.

The different timelines have caused confusion, or the attempt to confuse the airlines in some cases by passengers as well. For example, in the first week of June 2021, I was on a Vistara flight between Mumbai and Delhi, and at the check-in counter, there was a group trying to harass the agents into accommodating them on a flight to Goa with an expired RT-PCR report.

a row of syringes and bottles of liquid

With health being a state subject in India, the state governments get to determine who gets to enter their borders, what kind of testing they need to go through and what are the quarantine requirements, if any, before they let them get out. As was the case with the ICMR advisory issued earlier, it was just an advisory and states chose to ask for a report anyways.

Some states have already started opening up, however, to fully vaccinated travellers. Chattisgarh & Goa are allowing fully vaccinated travellers to arrive without tests, and Punjab is also okay to have those with just one dose to come in, as long as it is over 14 days old.

Now, the central government is trying to mediate, at least for the flyers, to do away with the requirement of an RT-PCR report for fully vaccinated travellers.

However, the government has also protested the need for the issuance of a vaccine passport at the G7 meet, which would enable people to travel more freely, and called it discriminatory. This makes no sense to me, as eventually, this is going to be just a certificate that states that you are fully-vaccinated, and your Arogya Setu app will show your vaccination status anyways. So eventually, everyone will either be not-vaccinated, partially-vaccinated or fully-vaccinated against CoVid-19.

Bottomline

You might soon see more states opening up to the idea of a fully-vaccinated person not having to carry an RT-PCR report every time they fly in India. This should also motivate some people to get vaccinated, if only for travel perks if nothing else. However, it does not seem like for international travel, such an initiative is in the works for now.

What do you think about the current move by the government to rally state governments into opening up travel without RT-PCR for vaccinated travellers? And have you been vaccinated yet?


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.

.

About Ajay

Ajay Awtaney is the Founder and Editor of Live From A Lounge (LFAL), a pioneering digital platform renowned for publishing news and views about aviation, hotels, passenger experience, loyalty programs, travel trends and frequent travel tips for the Global Indian. He is considered the Indian authority on business travel, luxury travel, frequent flyer miles, loyalty credit cards and travel for Indians around the globe. Ajay is a frequent contributor and commentator on the media as well, including ET Now, BBC, CNBC TV18, NDTV, Conde Nast Traveller and many other outlets.

More articles by Ajay »

Comments

  1. I am really surprised for insisting RG-PCR certificate for fully vaccinated air passengers arriving in Karnataka from other states.
    I live in BangaloreI am fully vaccinated 2 months ago from Bangalore. I have to go to Kannur for 5 days. Do I need RG-PCR certificate to come back to Bangalore after 5 days
    Please advise
    Regards,
    Jayaraj
    919880371825

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *