India bans flights from UK amid fears of new Covid-19 variant spread
Agencies | New Delhi
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
India on Monday announced that it will temporarily ban flights from the UK to the country after the emergence of a new and highly infectious strain of the coronavirus in Britain.
"Considering the prevailing situation in the UK, Indian govt has decided that all flights originating from the UK to India shall be temporarily suspended till 11:59 pm, 31st December. This suspension to start w.e.f. 11.59 pm, 22nd December," the Ministry of Civil Aviation tweeted.
Further, the ministry also added that as a measure of abundant precaution, passengers arriving from the UK in all transit flights (flights that have taken off or flights which are reaching India before 22nd Dec at 23.59 hrs) should be subject to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at the airports concerned.
Earlier today, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan assured the citizens over the fears of the new strain of coronavirus in UK. He said that the government is alert and there is no need to panic.
Moreover, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had shown concerns over the rapid spread of the new variant of the virus in Britain and had urged the Centre to ban all flights from the UK immediately.
Countries around the world have begun banning flights and travellers from Britain as London said Sunday the spread of a more-infectious new coronavirus strain was now "out of control".
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and Bulgaria all announced restrictions on UK travel, hours after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Christmas shopping and gatherings in southern England must be cancelled because of rapidly spreading infections blamed on the new coronavirus variant.
Johnson said Saturday that a fast-moving new variant of the virus that is 70 per cent more transmissible than existing strains appeared to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England in recent weeks. But he stressed "there's no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness," or that vaccines will be less effective against it.
Johnson will chair an emergency response meeting on Monday to discuss international travel, in particular the flow of freight in and out of Britain. EU officials are due to hold a meeting at 1000 GMT on coordinating their response.
Related Posts