Govt updates self-declaration form for passengers as COVID-19 recovery improves

On May 21, the government had made it mandatory for all passengers to submit the self-declaration form before a flight stating that they did not test positive for COVID-19 during two months prior to the departure date.

PTI

July 12, 2020 / 12:50 IST

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The Civil Aviation Ministry has told the airlines that passengers who submit a self-declaration form that they have not tested positive for COVID-19 during the three weeks prior to the departure date are allowed to take their flight, officials said.

On May 21, the government had made it mandatory for all passengers to submit the self-declaration form before a flight stating that they did not test positive for COVID-19 during two months prior to the departure date.

The officials told PTI that as there are a large number of people in India now who have recovered from the deadly virus, a need was felt to update the self-declaration form to avoid any hardships to them.

Therefore, a few days back, the government told the airlines that passengers need to give a declaration that "they have not tested positive for COVID-19 in the last three weeks" prior to the flight, the officials said.

"Persons who have recovered from COVID-19 and who fulfil the three-week criteria will be allowed to travel by flights if they show a COVID-recovery or COVID-discharge certificate from their hospital," they mentioned.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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