On the 29th of December, Hardeep Singh Puri, the Indian Civil Aviation Minister, said India is likely to extend the ban on flights from the United Kingdom (U.K.)
The decision was taken in the wake of the new Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 strain, which was recently found in U.K.
Hardeep Singh Puri said, “I foresee a slight extension of the temporary suspension. I don’t expect that extension to be a long or indefinite extension. In the next day or two, we will find out if any additional steps need to be taken, or when we can start easing the current temporary suspension.”
India had suspended all flights from Britain, U.K., last week the 22nd of December midnight until the end of the month, the 31st of December
The Civil Aviation Ministry said the ban would curb the spread of the COVID-19 new strain spread.
The Union Health Ministry on the 29th of December, meanwhile decided to imposed strict guidelines on all the U.K., returnees in the past two weeks.
The Union Health Ministry saud, all international passengers who have arrived in India during the last 14 days, from December 9 to the 22nd of December this year, if symptomatic and tested positive for the Coronavirus disease would have to undergo genome sequencing.
The new variant of the Novel Coronavirus is said to be 70% more transmissible and is spreading rapidly in Britain.
Governments around the world are also taking action as a fast spreading variant sweeps through South Africa, France, Italy and Germany.
Besides India, Hong Kong also banned all recent travellers from South Africa and the U.K., and extended a mandatory quarantine for most other visitors in an attempt to prevent a spread of COVID-19 cases in the city.
Meanwhile, so far nearly six U.K., returnees tested positive for the COVID-19 new strain.
Their samples have been taken and sent to the Central Medical Department for research.
Stay tuned for further updates.
