During Trump's India visit there was no requirement of COVID-19 test: Muraleedharan

During US President Donal Trump's India visit in February this year there was no requirement of mandatory COVID-19 test for travellers from foreign countries as the disease was not given pandemic status at that time, said V Muraleedharan, Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs on Tuesday in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

While answering 'unstarred questions' on Trump's recent visit, Muraleedharan wrote, "At the time of US President's visit (February 24-25) there was no requirement of mandatory COVID-19 test for travellers from foreign countries. Pandemic status to diseases is given by the World Health Orgzation, which declared novel coronavirus a pandemic on 11 March."

On whether any COVID-19 tests were conducted on Trump or his staff, Muraleedharan said, "The requirement of mandatory universal screening of all international passengers arriving in 21 airports in India for COVID-19 was implemented by Government of India with effect from 4 March 2020."

"Therefore, during US President Donald Trump's visit to India, established norms and protocols for handling such high-level visits were followed by the Government of India," he further wrote.

In February this year, Trump had visited India for the first time after becoming the United States President.

( With inputs from ANI )