Omicron scare: India drops Singapore from list of 'at-risk' nations, details here

Amid Omicron scare, India added several countries to the 'at-risk' list from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival, including post-arrival testing for COVID-19 infection.

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New Delhi: As the Omicron variant triggers panic around the world, India on Thursday (December 9) revised the list of "at-risk" countries, travellers from where are required to adhere to additional measures on arrival, ANI reported. 

Releasing the updated list on November 9, 2021, India removed Singapore from its list of "at-risk" nations. As per the Centre, the current list of "at-risk" nations includes countries in Europe including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Ghana, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Hong Kong and Israel.

Singapore removed from the list of 'at risk' countries from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in India, including post-arrival testing. 12 countries including South Africa, Botswana and China are on the list. pic.twitter.com/UW3byavCcJ — ANI (@ANI) December 9, 2021

Earlier, to stem the transmission, India had added several countries to the list from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in the country, including post-arrival testing for COVID-19 infection. Notably, India currently has 23 cases of the Omicron variant.

The development comes a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) said the Omicron has reached 57 nations and warned that the number of patients needing hospitalisation is likely to rise as the variant spreads. On November 26, the WHO classified the highly mutant COVID-19 variant B.1.1529 or Omicron variant, first detected in southern Africa, as a 'variant of concern'. 

Meanwhile, amid call for booster doses across the world, WHO vaccine advisory panel on Thursday recommended that people who are immunocompromised or received an inactivated vaccine should receive a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 

(With agency inputs)