Special team at Kolkata airport to check Covid certificates of flyers from five countries – Times of India

KOLKATA: The Kolkata airport authorities have deployed a dedicated team of officials at the international arrival zone to check RT-PCR reports of passengers arriving from Thailand and escort them to the testing kiosks in case they do not have it.
Following a Union health ministry guideline, passengers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand have to provide negative Covid reports from January 1. They also have to upload the negative Covid reports from RT-PCR tests on the Air Suvidha portal prior to their departure.

Among the countries mentioned, Kolkata has direct connectivity with only Bangkok that has four airlines – IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air Asia and Thai Smile – operating daily direct flights. Thai Airways also began operation of daily direct flights between Bangkok and Kolkata on Sunday.
“We have deputed a special team to check the negative RT-PCR reports of passengers arriving from Thailand as well as those arriving in transit from the five nations. The passengers are undergoing thermal checks and they have to show their reports to the officials at the airport near the immigration check before leaving the terminal. In case, someone doesn’t have the RT-PCR negative certificate, the person need to go to the RT-PCR checking counter and get themselves tested,” said a senior airport official.
The official added this check will be in addition to the random testing of 2% arriving international passengers, which has been in place since last week.
“The passengers have started panicking and are worried over the harassment and additional cost that they have to fork up for the RT-PCR test. There has been a sudden dip in foreign travel queries. Destinations like Bangkok, Hanoi, Maldives, Bali and Singapore, which had been very popular among people to spend vacations till last week, are showing a sudden slump in bookings. We are trying to convince the tourists and providing them with as much information as possible. But it is true that the added regulations will hit international tourism,” said Anil Punjabi, chairman (east), Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).