Key Points
- India has announced some international travellers will face random COVID-19 tests.
- The new rules comes ahead of the festival season and New Year.
- India has also stepped up surveillance for new coronavirus variants.
India will start randomly testing 2 per cent of international passengers arriving at its airports for COVID-19, Mansukh Mandaviya, the country's health minister, has told parliament.
"The global pandemic is not yet over ... The virus is changing its face from time to time," Mr Mandaviya told parliament on Thursday as the country steps up surveillance for new coronavirus variants.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set to hold a meeting with top officials on Thursday to review the situation in the country.
"Considering the upcoming festival season and New Year, states have been advised to keep up awareness of hand hygiene and the importance of masking," Mandaviya said.
India welcomed fewer international tourists in 2020 and 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and associated travel restrictions, .
India's iconic Taj Mahal, which attracts thousands of tourists every day, will now require visitors to undergo a COVID-19 test before they enter, news agency Reuters' partner ANI reported.
Politicians attending the ongoing winter session of parliament were spotted wearing masks.
Masks have not been compulsory in most parts of the country for several months.
India is reporting an average of 153 cases of COVID-19 every day, Mr Mandaviya said.
The country has 3,402 active cases of the coronavirus, according to data from the health ministry.
The government earlier this week asked India's states to keep a 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.
With more than 44 million COVID-19 cases to date, India has reported the most in the world behind the United States.
However, its number of confirmed infections has fallen sharply in the past few months.
