All international passengers, including those coming from "non-high risk" countries, flying into Goa will have to undergo RT-PCR testing on arrival, said Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Thursday, December 30 in the wake of the rising cases of Covid-19 in Goa and the increasing threat of the new coronavirus variant Omicron.
"In view of the rising cases and as per the circular issued by Govt of Goa, we shall be testing all international passengers on arrival, travelling from high-risk countries as well as non-high risk countries," Rane tweeted.
Earlier, only 2 per cent of international travellers that were flying in Goa from non r-risk countries had to undergo for RT-PCR test for Covid-19.
The government has also capped the price of the RT-PCR test at Rs 1500.
"Earlier, we tested only 2% of passengers travelling from non-high-risk countries. However, the Govt of Goa has now taken a decision in the public interest to test all international passengers. The govt has approved capping of Rapid RT PCR test at ₹1500, until further review," Rane tweeted.
As many as 170 fresh cases were reported on Wednesday in Goa, taking the tally of active cases to 657. State infectivity rate has also jumped to 5.25 per cent.
Goa has also reported one Omicron case so far with results of the majority of the samples sent for genome sequencing to a laboratory are yet to be received.
