Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, “Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to and from the UK till 7 January 2021. Thereafter strictly regulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly.”
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The government, on Wednesday, announced that it has extended the suspension of flights to and from the United Kingdom till January 7 amidst the rising number of the new mutant Covid-19 strain cases in the country.
Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, “Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to and from the UK till 7 January 2021. Thereafter strictly regulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly.”
Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to & from the UK till 7 January 2021.
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Thereafter strictly regulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) December 30, 2020
India had suspended flight operations to and from the UK on December 23 till December 31.
Meanwhile, India, on Wednesday, reported 14 new cases of the new coronavirus strain that emerged in the United Kingdom, taking the total of the new mutant strain Covid-19 cases to 20, according to government data.
On Tuesday, the government had reported the first six cases of the new mutant strain of Covid-19.
The Health Ministry, on Tuesday, said that genome sequencing will be conducted on all the international passengers who were symptomatic and tested positive for coronavirus and have arrived in India in the last 14 days, between December 9 and 22.
The ministry said that comprehensive contact tracing has been intimated for the travellers and their family contacts. “The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing,” the ministry said.
The UK strain of the Covid-19 virus, said to be 70 per cent more contagious, has reached Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon, and Singapore.
The government has said that nearly 33,000 passengers have arrived from the UK between November 25 and December 23, out of which 114 have tested positive for Covid. Genome sequencing for other specimens is going on and the states in which these passengers arrived contact tracing is being done.
The government had also announced measures such as that every passenger arriving from the UK will have to undergo the Covid-19 test upon arrival.
The UK is one of the 23 countries with which India shares an ‘air bubble’ with, the country is home to a huge Indian diaspora and several flights operate between them.
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