Highlights:
- Delhi will make it mandatory to bring a negative coronavirus test report from Friday for those arriving from 5 states
- Visitors have to bring Covid-19 test report if they are coming from Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
- On Tuesday, Delhi reported 145 new Covid-19 cases and two new deaths
With a sudden rise in coronavirus cases in five states, Delhi will make it essential to carry a negative Covid test report from Friday for those coming from those states, sources say.
From Saturday to March 15, people travelling from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh to Delhi on flights, trains or buses will have to show a negative RT-PCR test. Those that entered Delhi by road were exempted.
Travellers from Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab will need a negative coronavirus test report to enter #Delhi from 26th February till 15th March
— ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2021
The official orders will be issued today.
Sources say the decision was taken by the Delhi government because 86 percent of the new cases of viruses have emerged from these states in the past week.
Officers in these states will be asked to verify Covid’s negative test reports up to 72 hours prior to departure before allowing passengers to depart for Delhi.
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The new rule will be in place from midnight on Friday till 12 noon on March 15, sources said.
After a sudden increase in new infections in recent days, Maharashtra and Kerala alone account for 75 percent of the country’s current active cases.
The highest number of 5,210 new cases was recorded by Maharashtra on Tuesday, followed by Kerala (2,212) and Tamil Nadu (449). Maharashtra reported 18 fatalities, followed by Kerala with 16 and Punjab with 15, the Ministry of Health said.
Similar restrictions on people traveling from states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand have been announced by the states.
Cases have been on the rise in the Maharashtra suburbs of Mumbai and in Nagpur, Nashik, Yavatmal, Amravati and Akola.
In addition to imposing fresh local lockdowns or curbs in districts like Pune and Amravati, Maharashtra has announced a state-wide ban on social, political and religious gatherings.
The weekly positive rate and the number of cases has also increased in Punjab.
The rise has sparked fears of a second wave in the five states, with the Centre directing them to stress strict supervision, containment and RT-PCR-testing.
The Union Ministry of Health also wrote to all States and Union Territories on the need to significantly improve the speed of vaccination.
