The Ministry of Civic Aviation recently announced that the international air travel will no longer be possible without a QR code on the coronavirus (COVID-19) report. As per the revised guidelines, this new rule will be applicable to international passengers from May 22, 2021, and the decision was implemented after officials learned that many COVID-19 report were being modified by the passengers for the travel.
The QR-based checking system will be helpful to check the validity of both the lab and the report, said the officials. Incidents have been reported where COVID positive patients have attempted to tamper the details like the travel date, name and other information on the report, and the same were uncovered at several airports, including Mumbai.
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Keeping this in mind, the authorities decided to conduct random checks on passengers with RT-PCR reports at airports that are usually busy. However, some suspected passengers turned out to be positive for COVID-19 and hence further inquiries were requested. This revealed that the old report submitted by the passengers had been tampered and as a result, the ministry decided to implement the QR code system to strengthen the check.
Officials have made it mandatory to verify the details on the report, and for now, this rule will be applicable only for international traveler, whereby, staring May 22, COVID reports have to be submitted only with the QR code. Passengers who do not comply with this rule will not be allowed to board the aircraft, and hence, they should request a QR code based report from the concerned laboratory while testing for coronavirus.
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The ministry stated that the QR code will help understand the day when the sample was taken from the concerned passengers, when the report was released, the result, laboratory's accreditation, and if the report been altered for the benefit of travelling.
Air India took to Twitter to share the details with a message that read, "Attention Passengers Boarding International Flights From Ind. Effective 22nd May 2021, passengers carrying negative RT-PCR report as per the requirement of their destination country, must ensure that the report has a QR code linking to the original report."
#FlyWithIX : Attention Passengers Boarding International Flights From India ⚠️⚠️⚠️
— Air India Express (@FlyWithIX) May 14, 2021
Effective 22nd May 2021, passengers carrying negative RT-PCR report as per the requirement of their destination country, must ensure that the report has a QR code linking to the original report. pic.twitter.com/tOzIOWBCHI
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