AMID COVID CONCERNS, NO ENTRY FOR TOURISTS IN TAJ MAHAL WITHOUT TESTING

Thu 22 December 2022:

With the surge in Covid cases in China and other countries, one of the most popular tourist attractions of the country Taj Mahal in Agra is put on alert, confirmed the District Health Information Officer in Agra.

Domestic and foreign tourists come every day in large numbers to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra. Keeping the situation in mind, they will have to undergo a Covid test before their visit as per the official sources.

Anil Satsangi, the District Health Information Officer (Agra) said, “The health department has already started the tests to prevent the spread of infection. As the alert is on, the tests have now been made mandatory for all the visitors.”

Random Covid Tests

India will start randomly testing 2% of all international passengers arriving at its airports for COVID-19, the country’s health minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, told parliament on Thursday.

The government earlier this week asked India’s states to keep a sharp lookout for any new variants of the coronavirus and urged people to wear masks in crowded areas, citing an increase in COVID-19 cases in China and other parts of the globe.

The government has no plan yet to stop flights from countries where new cases have been reported. ‘We don’t have any direct flights to or from China,” the minister underlined. “It is our endeavor to stop the virus from coming to India, and that travel should not be interrupted either.”

As for masks and any other strict measures in view of the recent spurt in China, Mr Mandaviya said states have been “advised to ensure protocol is followed”, but there is no mandate yet.

The Centre has also asked all states to ensure genome sequencing of positive cases to understand the virus’ new variants.

This is in line with what the minister had said on Wednesday after a meeting of an expert group. Government officials have been saying there is no need to panic.

In view of the festive season ahead, states have been asked to be alert, and create awareness about masks, sanitisers and social distancing,” the minister told the Lok Sabha, speaking in Hindi.

India, too, has the presence of a sub-variant of the Omicron variant, called BF.7, which is driving the new surge in China. Its four cases have been reported in India — the first one in July and the latest in November. Overall cases in India continue to be relatively meagre at fewer than 200 daily for several days now.

The BF.7 variant has been detected in several other countries, including the US and UK and European nations such as Belgium, Germany, France and Denmark.

BF.7 is a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant BA.5, and has the strongest infection ability since it is highly transmissible, has a shorter incubation period, and has a higher capacity to cause reinfection, news agency PTI reported.

The governments’s sense of urgency has caused a political row too, as the minister has written to Congress’s Rahul Gandhi to suspend his Bharat Jodo Yatra if Covid protocols are not followed. The Congress, while saying it would follow any norms as announced, sees a conspiracy against its mass contact footmarch that is currently in Haryana and is to enter national capital Delhi on December 24.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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