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All passengers arriving from India to Russia tested for COVID-19 at airport

In late March, India announced that a new COVID-19 strain with E484Q and L452R mutations had been uncovered in the country

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. All people arriving in Russia from India have been tested for COVID-19 at the airport since April 27, Anna Popova, who heads the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, said on Wednesday.

"All flights that arrive from India, all people who arrive from there have been tested right at the airport since yesterday, and we have introduced additional controls. This is justifiable under the chief sanitary doctor’s latest decree on selective control of foreigners arriving in the Russian Federation," she said at the "Molecular Diagnostics and Biosafety-2021" international online conference.

Popova explained that the issue at hand involved two-stage control: first, a rapid COVID-19 test at the airport and, later on, the usual PCR test.

In late March, India’s Health Ministry announced that a new COVID-19 strain with E484Q and L452R mutations had been uncovered in India. Reports also said that these mutations were identified in about 15-20% of samples and are not found in the UK, South African and Brazilian strains.