Considering the prevailing situation in the UK, the Indian govt has decided that all flights originating from the UK to India shall be temporarily suspended till 11:59 pm, 31st December. This suspension to start w.e.f. 11.59 pm, 22nd December as per Ministry of Civil Aviation. (source ANI).
As a measure of abundant precaution, passengers arriving from the UK in all transit flights (flights that have taken off or flights that are reaching India before 22nd Dec at 11.59 pm) should be subject to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at airports: Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Meanwhile, asking people not to panic, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan Monday said the government was on alert about the new strain of coronavirus that has emerged in the United Kingdom. The Health Ministry’s top advisory body is expected to meet today to discuss the variant, which is reportedly more infectious. Sources said experts from AIIMS and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), along with a representative from the World Health Organisation (WHO), will attend the meeting.
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Shortly before Vardhan’s appeal, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the Centre to immediately ban all flights from the UK over the “super-spreader” mutation.
The U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the new strain of the coronavirus is “out of control” and suggested parts of England will be stuck in the new, highest tier of restrictions until a vaccine is rolled out.
More than 16 million Britons are now required to stay at home after a lockdown came into force Sunday in London and southeast England and the government scrapped plans to relax rules on socializing at Christmas.
The measures to control the fast-spreading new variant of the virus forbid household mixing in those areas and restrict socializing to just Christmas Day across the rest of England. Residents across the country were told to keep to their local areas, and extra police were being deployed at rail stations to stop people traveling out of London.
“Cases have absolutely rocketed, so we’ve got a long way to go,” Hancock told Sky News. “I think it will be very difficult to keep it under control until the vaccine has rolled out.” People in the new Tier 4 areas “should behave as though they have it,” he said.
