The Air Suvidha portal became live once more on Saturday for air passengers coming from certain countries to upload their negative RT-PCR test report.

According to the latest guidelines, passengers arriving from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and Japan have to mandatorily upload a negative RT-PCR report on the Air Suvidha portal. The test has to be conducted 72 hours prior to departure.

Earlier this week, the Centre had issued revised Covid guidelines for passengers arriving in international flights from these countries. As per the guidelines, the practice of random testing of 2 per cent of arriving passengers in each international flight will also continue.

"They should also give an undertaking on the portal or otherwise to the Ministry of Civil Aviation through the concerned airlines before they are allowed to undertake the journey that they would abide by the decision of the appropriate government authority for any post-arrival requirement, including home/institutional quarantine and self-health monitoring, as warranted," said the new guidelines issued on December 29 with respect to passengers coming from certain high-risk countries.

Air Suvidha is a digital portal developed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation where passengers travelling to India can provide details of their travel, RT-PCR report and vaccination status in a self-declaration form. The authorities had launched the Air Suvidha to ensure the safety of the travellers as well as Indian citizens.

To ensure the smooth passage of international travellers coming to India, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare had mandated contactless self-declaration on the Air Suvidha portal last year. The portal was launched in August 2020. (SJ/IANS)