A pre-departure RT-PCR negative test report will be mandatory from 1 January 2023 for passengers coming in all international flights from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Japan.

From 1 January 2023, airlines are directed to modify their check-in functionalities to incorporate the changes and issue boarding passes only to those international passengers travelling from these five countries who have submitted self-declaration forms on the Air Suvidha portal.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on 30 December issued revised Covid guidelines for passengers arriving in international flights.

RT-PCR testing should have been done 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey.

The current practice of random testing of 2 per cent of arriving passengers in each international flight will also continue.

These decisions have been taken amid rising cases of coronavirus infections in various parts of the world and reports regarding the circulation of variants of SARS-CoV-2 in these five countries.

The ministry on Friday sent the communication regarding the revised guidelines to all scheduled commercial airlines, airport operators, and chief secretaries/ administrators of states/Union Territories, among others.