The government has decided to reopen India-UK flights which were closed in the last week of December amid concerns over the 'highly infectious' new Covid-19 strain first spotted in the United Kingdom.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the government is reviewing the situation and it has allowed limited resumption of civil aviation with the UK
The government has decided to reopen India-UK flights which were closed in the last week of December amid concerns over the 'highly infectious' new Covid-19 strain first spotted in the United Kingdom.
As per their official Twitter handle, two Air India flights – one from Delhi and one from Mumbai, will fly for London flew on January 6, 2020.
Earlier on Tuesday, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the government is reviewing the situation and it has allowed limited resumption of civil aviation with the United Kingdom.
"We took a decision on limited resumption of civil aviation traffic between India and the United Kingdom based on an assessment of available facts as available with our medical professionals. We decided that RT-PCR test which was done 72 hours ahead of travelling was not enough," he told news agency ANI.
The new mutant strain of Coronavirus is believed to be more contagious. Keeping that in mind, India had put an embargo on flight operations between the two countries on December 21, which became effective from December 23. Initially, the ban was till December 31, but was later extended to January 7. The ministry has clarified that while flights from the UK will be able to enter India from January 8, flights from India will start from January 6.
A total of 58 samples have been found to be positive with the new UK variant genome of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, confirmed the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday.