Bengal makes RT-PCR test mandatory for people from 7 more countries on arrival
The West Bengal government on Tuesday made RT-PCR test mandatory on arrival in the state for international travelers from seven more countries, including Bangladesh, China and South Africa, even if they have been fully vaccinated, a senior official said. Four other such countries are New Zealand, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The official said that this exercise will start from Wednesday.
The official said the decision was taken in a meeting between senior officials of the health department and experts from various related fields. This rule is already in place for travelers from the United Kingdom and Brazil.
“International travelers coming from seven countries will have to undergo RT-PCR test for COVID on arrival here, irrespective of their negative test report or even they have completed vaccination before boarding.
“We are following the instructions of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare… what is being done to passengers coming to or coming from the UK or Brazil,” an official said.
As per the decision, the trial at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhash Chandra International Airport will be a paid service. He said that if any passenger wants free service then he will be sent to Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in the city. However, it is not clear where the travelers from these countries will be staying till the results of the RT-PCR tests are received.
Meanwhile, the health bulletin stated that seven people died of Covid-19 in West Bengal, taking the death toll to 18,522.
Two deaths each were recorded in North 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Nadia districts, while one death was reported from South 24 Parganas district.
The bulletin said that 601 new cases have been reported from across the state, taking the number of infected to 15,53,177.
In the last 24 hours, 687 patients have recovered from the disease in the state, taking the total number of recoveries to 15,26,268. The discharge rate improved slightly to 98.27 percent.
The number of active cases now stands at 8,387.
The bulletin said 35,882 samples have been tested for coronavirus since Monday, taking the total number of such diagnostic tests to 1,72,72,409.
A Health Department official said that on Tuesday, 5,25,409 doses of the vaccine were given in West Bengal and the number of people who got the vaccine has gone up to 4,46,52,376.
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