Fully vaccinated people won't need negative RT-PCR report to enter Maharashtra

Mumbai: Persons who have been vaccinated with both doses of COVID-19 vaccine and are in possession of final vaccination certificate, will no longer be required to produce a negative RT-PCR report to enter Maharashtra, according to an order by the state government.

This exemption is applicable for domestic as well as international passengers.

"In exercise of the powers conferred under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the undersigned in the capacity of the Chairperson of the State Executive Committee of the State Disaster Management Authority hereby decrees that persons who have vaccinated with both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and 15 days lapsed since the administration of second dose of the vaccine and is in possession of the final vaccination certificate issued through the COWIN portal then such persons be exempted from mandatory requirement of processing a negative RTPCR report on their entry into the state," read the order.

It is clarified that this exemption is applicable for domestic as well as international passengers.

The state government has also extended the time interval of the validity of the RT-PCR test for all other persons to 72 hours instead of 48 hours.

Earlier on Thursday, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said that 92 per cent of total active cases are being reported from 10 districts of the state while the remaining 8 per cent from 26 districts.

"We can see a plateau in active cases but we want to see a decline. Maharashtra stands at 10th position in per million cases tally," he said.