New Delhi: India on Monday added Ghana and Tanzania to the list of "at risk" countries, passengers from where have to follow additional Covid testing and quarantine measures.
The Aviation Ministry said on Tuesday that the list of "at risk" countries was updated on Monday.
Countries in Europe, including the UK, and South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Ghana, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tanzania and Israel have been placed in the "at-risk" category, the Aviation Ministry noted.
According to the Union Health Ministry's guidelines that came into force from December 1 following the emergence of the Omicron variant, all passengers coming from "at-risk" countries have to compulsorily undergo RT-PCR test and two per cent of passengers arriving from other countries would have to take the test on a random basis. The passengers will have to wait for the results before leaving the airport or taking a connecting flight, according to the guidelines.
The government is keeping a close watch on the COVID-19 situation in the country by strictly observing the strategy of 'test-track-treat', Covid-appropriate behaviour and vaccination to mitigate the impact of a resurgence in the disease's trajectory, Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
The Centre has also established the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Surveillance Consortium for genomic sequencing and tracking the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 variant strains, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written reply.
She was responding to a question on whether health infrastructure has been strengthened and expanded, including oxygen cylinders and medicines, to meet the COVID-19 challenge and if the government has undertaken any detailed study with experts on how to minimise the threat and likelihood of a third wave of the pandemic.
As many as 123.25 crore Covid vaccine doses were given in India as of November 30 and 49,819 adverse events following immunisation were reported which was 0.004 per cent of the total jabs administered, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Of the 49,819 adverse events following immunisation (AEFI), 47,691 were minor events, 163 severe and 1,965 were serious cases, Pawar told the Upper House in reply to a question.
India has supplied over 723 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine to 94 countries and two UN entities since the start of the Vaccine Maitri Programme in January this year, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
India supplied COVID-19-related medical and other assistance to over 150 countries since the beginning of the pandemic, Pawar said in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.
Meanwhile, India logged 6,822 new infections, the lowest in 558 days, taking the country's tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,46,48,383, while the active cases declined to 95,014, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.
The death toll climbed to 4,73,757 with 220 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 129 crore on Tuesday, the Union Health Ministry said.
Over 66 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Tuesday till 7 pm, it said.
According to the ministry, the daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late in the night.