India will drop the pre-departure COVID test requirement for travellers coming from or via China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand and Japan from Monday, the health ministry said, as COVID-19 infections have fallen sharply globally.

The random testing of 2% of all travellers landing in India will continue, the health ministry wrote in the letter dated Feb. 9 to the civil aviation ministry. (Reporting by Tanvi Mehta; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)