Mumbai: As the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic is receding, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government has announced that people fully vaccinated against coronavirus can enter the state without showing a negative Covid-19 test (RT-PCR) report at the airport. As per the notification issued by the state government, this will be applicable for all domestic and international flyers.
“Persons who have been vaccinated with both the doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and 15 days have lapsed since the administration of second dose of vaccine and is in possession of a final vaccination certificate issued through the COWIN portal then such person be exempted from the mandatory requirement of possessing a negative RTPCR report on their entry into the State,” the Maharashtra government release said.
Moreover, the interval of validity of the RTPCR test has also been increased from 48 hours to 72 hours.
The move comes after Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation requested the Thackeray government to exempt the RT-PCR negative test report stipulation for passengers arriving in the metropolis from within the country if they are fully vaccinated.
The civic body had made a RT-PCR negative report of a test carried out within 48 hours of commencing the journey towards the metropolis mandatory in May this year. While it was at first applicable to those coming in from Gujarat, Goa, Delhi, Rajasthan and Kerala, all of which had high infection counts at the time, the rule gradually was extended to cover all passengers irrespective of the origin state, the official added.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s coronavirus caseload rose to 61,89,257 with addition of 8,010 new infections on Thursday, while the death toll reached 1,26,560 after 170 patients succumbed to the respiratory illness, a health department official said here.
The state witnessed a drop in the daily COVID-19 cases, while the fatalities remained the same as compared to Wednesday, when it had reported 8,602 new infections and 170 deaths.