NEW DELHI – India has suspended all flights from Britain until the end of this month following reports of a new highly infectious strain of the coronavirus there, which has prompted similar decisions from several other countries.
Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands and Belgium all earlier announced similar moves.
Scotland has also effected an unprecedented travel stoppage from England, as the new strain is currently spreading in southern England.
Australia, however, has held back on following suit
The temporary ban on flights originating from the United Kingdom starts on Wednesday, the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation said.
As a measure of “abundant precaution,” passengers arriving from the UK in all transit flights that have taken off or flights which are reaching India before midnight on December 22 should be subject to the mandatory RT-PCR Covid-19 test on arrival at airports, the ministry said.
Britain is one the countries with which India has a bilateral “air bubble” travel arrangement while regular scheduled international flights remain suspended due to the pandemic.
India, the world’s second hardest-hit country by the pandemic, has recorded more than 10 million infections, with 24,337 new cases reported today.
The number of active cases is 303,639, according to the Ministry of Health. – Bernama, December 21, 2020
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