On the 30th of June, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry extended the imposed ban on international passenger flights till the 31st of July. The decision was taken by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA,) in the wake of the ongoing second wave of the Wuhan virus also known as the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19.)
This is the 6th time that India extended the imposed ban on international passenger flights.
In March 2020, the first such ban was imposed along with the nationwide lockdown. Second time, on the 31st of August, the Civil Aviation Ministry extended the ban till the 31st of September 2020. Later in March 2021, due to the rise in the Novel Coronavirus cases, the Union Government decided to impose a ban. The fourth ban on international flight was announced on the 30th of April till the 31st of May and the fifth ban, when the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation extended the time from 31st of May to the 30th of June.
Now, today the 30th of June, when the imposed ban was scheduled to end, the Civil Aviation Ministry of India once again extended the ban.
The Aviation Regulatory Body DGCA on the 30th of June, issued the circulation regarding the same. The circulation read “In partial modification of the circular dated 26-06-2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of the circular issued on the above subject… regarding scheduled international commercial passenger services to or from India till 2359 hrs IST of 31 July, 2021.”
It is to be noted, the imposed ban does not include arranged bubble flights and Vande Bharat flights. Amid the Wuhan virus pandemic, India has been operating bilateral air bubble flights for special international passenger flights. The arrangements are in effect with 28 countries, including Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, the Maldives, Nigeria, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.,) the United Kingdom (U.K.,) and the United States of America (U.S.A.) The other countries with which India has such a pact are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Kuwait, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Russia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Meanwhile, till date, India has 3,03,62,848 positive cases, of which 2,94,27,330 are recoveries, 5,37,064 are active cases and 3,98,454 deceased cases. In addition, the active cases constitute about 1.77 % of the total cases, recovery rate is at 96.92 % and fatality rate is at 2.69 %.
With this, India also became the second worst COVID-19 hit nation, the first worst COVID-19 hit nation is the U.S.A.
Stay tuned for further updates.
