All Students Coming From Ukraine Must Get Fully Vaccinated If Not Done Already, Says Govt

Russia Ukraine Crisis: Under 'Operation Ganga', thousands of Indians stranded in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion have been brought back to India on evacuation flights.

New Delhi: The government has asked all Indian nationals who have returned from Ukraine to get both doses of Covid-19 vaccine if they are not already fully vaccinated.

Addressing a press conference, Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Balram Bhargava said, "We would like to ensure, through you (media), that all the students who are returning (from Ukraine) are fully vaccinated or get their vaccination."

Under 'Operation Ganga', thousands of Indians stranded in Ukraine amid the Russian invasion have been brought back to India on evacuation flights.

Of the 20,000 Indians who were stranded in war-torn Ukraine, more than 6,000 have been brought back to the country so far.

As Ukraine has shut its airspace due to the conflict with Russia, India is evacuating its nationals by moving them via land routes to the east European country's neighbours -- Romania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia -- and then flying them out from there.

READ | Operation Ganga: The Complete Timeline Of Evacuation Flights Bringing Back Indians Stuck In Ukraine

Health Secretary Lav Agarwal said the Health Ministry was keeping a tab on how many flights and people have come from Ukraine and their health status.

 "We regularly have discussions with the MEA. International travel guidelines for students or anyone coming from Ukraine to India were also relaxed so that they could reach in time. We regularly follow up with the MEA on how many flights and people have come and get their health update too," PTI quoted Lav Agarwal as saying.

Asked about how the evacuated medical students will complete their studies, Agarwal said, "We all need to appreciate that these are tough times and we will act as per the situation's demand and norms. We need to see whatever best can be done for people coming back from Ukraine."

Last week, the Health Ministry had revised international travel guidelines for Indians being evacuated from Ukraine. 

The mandatory pre-boarding negative RT-PCR test and vaccination certificate have been exempted for Indians. They also don't need to upload documents before departure on Air-Suvidha Portal.