India To Randomly Test International Visitors For COVID

NEW DELHI (AP) – India has begun randomly testing international passengers arriving at its airports for COVID-19 after an increase in cases in neighboring China.

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced the new rule Thursday and urged state governments to increase surveillance for any new coronavirus variants and send samples of all positive cases to genome sequencing laboratories.

He also asked the public to take precautionary measures such as wearing masks, even though there is no official mandate for it.

The health ministry says India currently has only about 3,400 coronavirus cases, but a surge in cases in China has prompted experts to issue advisories for the public to wear face masks and receive vaccine booster doses.