India to randomly test international visitors for Covid-19

India has begun randomly testing international passengers arriving at its airports for Covid-19, amid an increase in cases in neighbouring China (Mahesh Kumar A/AP)

India has begun randomly testing international passengers arriving at its airports for Covid-19, the country’s health minister said on Thursday, citing an increase in cases in neighbouring China.

Mansukh Mandaviya announced the new rule in Parliament, where he also urged state governments to increase surveillance for any new coronavirus variants and send samples of all positive cases to genome sequencing laboratories.