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Passengers arriving on flight from the Gulf countries had to undergo RT-PCR tests for Covid-19 at Calcutta airport from Tuesday.
Airport officials said swab samples of nearly 500 passengers of four flights, one from Doha while others from Dubai,were collected at the six counters set up at the international arrival area.
“Initially, there were a few passengers asking why they had to undergo a paid test. We explained to them about the new guideline from the Union health ministry,” said airport director Kaushik Bhattacharya.
An official of a private airline operating a flight from Dubai said they were making in-flight announcements ab-out the tests at Calcutta airport.
Protein Behind Lesser Spread of Coronavirus Variant in Asia Than Europe, North America: Study 11/02/2021
A microbiologist processes coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests in a lab at the Government Medical College in Kochi, India. Photo:Reuters/Sivaram V
New Delhi: Deficiency of a lung-protecting protein in the Caucasian population may have made Europe and North America more susceptible to the spread of a coronavirus variant as compared to Asia, suggests a study by Indian scientists which also reveals how mutant forms of the virus may find new ways to infect people.
The study, published in the journal Infection, Genetics and Evolution, assessed the global spread of the coronavirus variant with the D614G mutation, which is the predominant lineage infecting North America and European populations.
Deficiency of a lung-protecting protein in the Caucasian population may have made Europe and North America more susceptible to the spread of a coronavirus variant as compared to Asia, suggests a study by Indian scientists which also reveals how mutant forms of the virus may find new ways to infect people.