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Updated August 10th, 2021 at 09:44 IST

Centre urges states to remove RT-PCR report requirement for fully vaccinated travellers

The Centre has urged states to exempt persons fully vaccinated against COVID-19 from carrying a negative RT-PCR report at the time of interstate travel. 

Reported by: Akhil Oka
COVID-19
Image: PTI/Facebook | Image:self
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In a key development, the Tourism Ministry has requested the state governments to exempt fully vaccinated persons from producing a negative RT-PCR report requirement at the time of interstate travel. This was revealed by Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy on Monday in response to an unstarred question by BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi. Reddy contended that a valid final certificate of double vaccination should be sufficient for persons travelling from one state to another. This assumes significance as multiple states continue to impose curbs on travellers who have been administered both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

At present, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Manipur, Maharashtra, Kerala and Goa have removed the requirement of a negative RT-PCR report for people arriving from other states. However, passengers from Maharashtra have to carry a negative RT-PCR report for entering West Bengal and Karnataka irrespective of their vaccination status. On the other hand, passengers can enter Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Ladakh, Odisha, and Telangana without producing either the novel coronavirus test report or proof of vaccination.

COVID-19 vaccination in India

There are 4.02.188 active novel coronavirus cases in the country currently out of which 3,11,39,457 patients have recovered while 4,28,309 deaths have been reported. The vaccination drive is gaining pace with 13.45 crore jabs administered in July- a 12.5% increase against June's 11.96 crore inoculations. Apart from Covishield and Covaxin, the Drugs Controller General of India has approved Sputnik V, Moderna, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

From June 21 onwards, the Centre has started procuring 75% of the vaccine stock and distributing it to the states for free. Most importantly, this stock is now be used for all adults and not just those aged above 45. As per sources, 40 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be available per month by October. This will be possible as a total of 7 vaccines are set to be available by October with Biological E's Corbevax, Zydus Cadila's DNA vaccine and Gennova's mRNA vaccine likely to get approval soon. 

The government has already hinted at vaccinating the entire adult population i.e nearly 90 crore people by December itself. Meanwhile, sources revealed that no booster dose is required for fully vaccinated individuals at least at this juncture. This comes amid reports that a booster dose is required for persons 6-8 months after they have been administered the second dose of the vaccine. A total of 40,03,68,839 persons have been inoculated whereas 11,31,17,830 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine too.

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Published August 10th, 2021 at 09:44 IST

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