State governments can help ease air travel if they let in air passengers testing covid-negative in quicker antigen tests instead of RT-PCR tests, two airline executives said.
Several states and Union territories insist on RT-PCR negative results from tests conducted within 72 hours of arrival, though labs may take up to four days to generate results after collecting samples. However, a rapid antigen test or RAT, though less accurate, can show results in less than 30 minutes.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in an advisory on 4 May advised doing away with RT-PCR tests for inter-state travel as the explosion of coronavirus cases puts immense pressure on testing labs. “However, state governments would need to implement this measure.
