No plan to make COVID testing mandatory at airports

Representation Pic

There is no plan so far to make RT-PCR testing for COVID-19 mandatory at airports for travellers, Union health ministry sources said on Thursday, amid an uptick in coronavirus infections in India.

Even though the number of cases is rising and the JN.1 sub-variant has been detected in the country, there is no cause of immediate concern as 92 per cent of those infected are opting for home-based treatment, indicating mild illness, they said. There is also no increase in hospitalisation rates and COVID-19 is an incidental finding in people hospitalised due to other medical conditions.

In the last two weeks, 22 people have died due to COVID-19 in the country. India on Thursday recorded 594 fresh COVID-19 infections while the number of active cases increased to 2,669 from 2,311 the previous day. The death toll has climbed to 5,33,327 with six more people three from Kerala, two from Karnataka and one from Punjab succumbing to the viral disease, the data updated at 8 am stated.

300 fresh COVID-19 cases in Kerala

Kerala reported 300 fresh COVID-19 infections and three deaths due to the disease in the last 24 hours, according to data on the Union Health Ministry website on Thursday. Of the 358 COVID infections reported nationwide till 8 am on Thursday, 300 were from Kerala, taking the active cases in the state to 2,341, as per the Ministry website. With the three deaths reported in the state, the total number of people who have died due to Coronavirus in Kerala since its outbreak three years ago reached 72,059.

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