Riyadh: Confusion over the Union Health Ministry’s ruling that those who have received two doses of the vaccine from 82 countries, including Saudi Arabia, will not need a PCR test to travel to India from Monday, has led many to delay their journey.
Those who arrived at Riyadh airport to go home without a PCR test result in the belief that the law would come into force on Monday were in crisis. Those who arrived at the airport on Tuesday morning to board a Saudi Airlines flight were told by airline officials that they might not travel without a PCR result.
The train will leave Kochi at 11.45 am. The airline officials said this when they arrived at 8 am to pick up a boarding pass to board flight 774. Many people are in crisis with this. There was no time to go back and do a PCR check and come up with a report. There is a lab at the airport that can get the test results within hours but you have to pay five times the price for the test. With that, the journey stopped and many returned.
But at the last minute, the authorities were ready to take away a few people who were still waiting at the airport. Doubts have been raised as to whether the Central Government’s order was not received by Saudi Airlines in a timely manner.
Other airlines, such as IndiGo and Emirates, also carried passengers without a PCR report on Tuesday. Travel to India does not require a PCR result but a certificate of completion of two doses of vaccination is mandatory.
