Chennai, Jan 3 (IANS): The Airport authorities of the four international airports in Tamil Nadu have directed the airline companies operating from Singapore to ensure that the passengers carry a valid RT-PCR negative certificate.

This follows the arrival of two passengers from Singapore at the Tiruchi airport on Sunday with invalid RT-PCR negative certificates.

According to a senior officer with the Tiruchi international airport, the authorities on checking found that one passenger was carrying an old RT-PCR negative certificate while the other was carrying an invalid certificate. The authorities immediately took the swab samples of the two passengers.

If the samples turn Covid-19 positive, then the department will inform the airport authorities and undertake further processes to isolate them and also trace the primary and secondary contacts of these people.

The Government of India has given a travel advisory in which passengers travelling into India from countries like China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Thailand have to carry a valid RT-PCR negative certificate. This is in wake of the recent spurge in Covid-19 cases across these countries.

The four international airports in Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Tiruchi, Coimbatore, and Madurai have directed all the airlines operating from these countries to ensure that all the passengers carry valid RT-PCR negative certificates as mandated by the Government of India.