New Delhi: In a piece of good news for the travel enthusiasts, the central government is planning to provide a hassle-free travel experience for passengers travelling by air within the country. You ask how? Well, the Centre is planning to get rid of the mandatory RT-PCR negative report rule for those passengers who have received both shots of a Covid-19 vaccine amid a drastic fall in daily active coronavirus cases in the country. Isn’t this wonderful? Scroll down for more details.
Many states currently require an RT-PCR negative certificate; however, Civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently said that the discussion on the issue is underway among representatives of different ministries, including the Health Ministry.
“A joint team from several ministries and stakeholders, including the Health Department, are in discussion to take a final decision on allowing travelling by air without an RT-PCR test for those who have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine,” ANI quoted Minister of Civil Aviation (MoCA) Hardeep Singh Puri.
In his statement, the minister emphasized on the point that health is the domain of states and to ask passengers for a negative RT-PCR report is solely the right of a particular state.
Furthermore, the minister said the Indian government has raised objections against the concept of “vaccine passport” for international passengers and has termed it as “discriminatory”. “With vaccine coverage as a percentage of population in developing countries is still low compared to developed countries, such an initiative could prove to be highly discriminatory,” he said.
Well, the minister’s hint has come at a time when domestic air travel fell to 19-20 lakh in May as compared to 57.3 lakh in April, according to a report by ratings agency ICRA.
But, this sure would be a welcome change in travel in the post-COVID times!
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