As India reported 20 cases of the new COVID-19 strain from UK, the governement has extended the suspension of flights from the country till January 7.
As India reported 20 cases of the new COVID-19 strain from the UK, the government has extended the suspension of flights from the country till January 7.
Declaring the extension, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the details for resumption will be announced shortly.
"Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to & from the UK till 7 January 2021. Thereafter strictly regulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly," the minister tweeted.
On Tuesday, the minister had said that he foresees a "short extension" of the suspension of flights from the United Kingdom to contain the spread of the new variant of coronavirus that was first detected in that country.
"I foresee a short extension on this temporary suspension. I do not see the extension to be long or indefinite," Puri said while addressing media at an annual press conference on Civil Aviation.
This comes after at least 20 people who returned to India from the UK to India tested positive for the mutated and 'more infectious' coronavirus strain. On Monday, it was reported that six UK returnees tested positive for the new strain. Later in the evening, a two-year-old girl in Meerut was reported to be infected with the new virus strain.
The union health ministry has now decided to test 5 per cent of all international passengers for the new strain.
“This particular virus strain may have its own run- it has travelled to many countries - so we have to be very careful. Initially, it is easy to suppress the spread of the virus because the chain of transmission is smaller,” Dr VK Paul, a member of the Niti Aayog, said.
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