Aviation Ministry asks airlines to ensure 2% of international passengers are tested

New Delhi, Dec 23 (IANS) The Civil Aviation Ministry on Friday asked airport operators to ensure compliance of guidelines issued by the government for international arrivals, while telling airlines to direct their crew members to lead the identified 2 per cent of the arriving passengers to the testing facility at the airport.

Against the backdrop of rising coronavirus cases in China and in a few more countries, the government on Thursday decided to subject 2 per cent of the passengers arriving on international flights to random coronavirus tests starting from Saturday morning.

On Friday, the ministry in a communication said that airlines are required to direct their crew members to lead and bring identified 2 per cent of international arriving passengers to the testing facility at the airport.

It also said that the airport operators would create necessary infrastructure to facilitate random testing of international arriving passengers at their respective airports.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai International Airport, in a statement, said that two per cent of all international passengers arriving at CSMIA shall undergo random post-arrival testing at the airport. Such travellers will be identified by their respective airlines and guided by the airline staff to a dedicated area at the Terminal for their RT-PCR tests. Passengers are required to submit the samples and continue with their onward journey. The lab shall make provisions to send the digital copy of the test results to the passengers directly, it said.

“The RT-PCR testing facility for international arriving passengers at CSMIA is located in the international arrival concourse, in the pre-immigration area, after the health screening counters. The testing facility will be available around the clock, free of cost for passengers who have been randomly selected by the airlines,” it said.

The CSMIA has appointed an ICMR approved & NABL accredited laboratory for the Covid-19 testing. The airport has made a provision for six registration counters and three sampling booths for the Covid-19 testing process, said the airport spokesperson.

–IANS

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