Indian authorities reported that in 20 individuals, including eight in Delhi, who came from the UK, the mutant variant of coronavirus was found.
AMN / New Delhi
The government of India today announced extension of the temporary suspension of passenger flights between India and the UK till January 7. Thereafter, they will resume their operations under a “strictly regulated” scheme.
Announcing this, Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri in a Twitter post said, “Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to & from the UK till January 7, 2021.”
The Minister went on to add that thereafter “strictly regulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly”.
The Civil Aviation Ministry had last week suspended all flights between the UK and India from December 23 to 31 as a mutated variant of the coronavirus was detected there.
On Tuesday, Indian authorities reported that in 20 individuals, including eight in Delhi, who came from the UK, the mutant variant of coronavirus was found.
Earlier, all flights originating from the UK to India were suspended till 31st of this month. The Health Ministry has recommended to the Ministry of Civil Aviation the extension of the temporary suspension of flights originating from UK into India to be further extended till 7th January 2021.
This has been recommended based on the inputs received from the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) headed by the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) and the National Task Force jointly headed by DG, ICMR and Member (Health), NITI Aayog.
The Union Health Secretary has written to all the States to keep a strict vigil on all events that could be potential super spreader events, and to curb crowding in the wake of the New Year celebrations and various events associated with it as well as on-going winter season.