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West Bengal Lockdown: Ban on passenger flights to Kolkata from 6 cities extended till July 31
Flight operations to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur and Ahmedabad were suspended from July 6 to July 19 on the request of West Bengal government.
Updated : Jul 17, 2020, 11:23 PM IST | Edited by : Ahamad Fuwad
 "Representational image: Ban on flights to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur and Ahmedabad extended till July 31")
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Amid complete lockdown in containment zones in West Bengal, the ban on passenger flights to Kolkata from six cities including Delhi and Mumbai has been extended till July 31 coronavirus cases continue to surge in the state.
Earlier, flight operations to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur and Ahmedabad were suspended on the request of West Bengal government.
All these cities are COVID-19 hotspots and have reported the highest number of cases in the country.
Kolkata's Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport said on Friday that the restriction on arriving flights has been extended up to July 31.
"The restriction on arriving flights to #KolkataAirport from 6 cities viz Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur & Ahmedabad has been extended up to 31st July," the NSCBI airport tweeted.
It had earlier announced a ban on a passenger flight to Kolkata from these cities from July 6 to July 19.
"It is informed that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai & Ahmedabad from 6th to 19th July 2020 or till further order whichever is earlier. Inconvenience caused is regretted," it had said in a tweet on July 4.
"The temporary restriction on arriving flights to #KolkataAirport from 6 cities viz Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur & Ahmedabad is on the request of State Govt. To restrict movement from high prevalence cities of #coronavirus cases in order to contain the spread of #COVID19," it had said.
The decision was taken after the West Bengal government requested the Ministry of Civil Aviation to suspend flight operations to Kolkata from high-risk cities.
IndiGo, SpiceJet, Vistara and Air India are some of the affected airlines due to the ban.
The state government has also imposed a complete lockdown in the containment and buffer zones, barring essential services, from July 9 till July 19. The West Bengal government on Friday added 35 more areas to the list of ‘broad-based’ containment zones, increasing the number of areas to 676.
Meanwhile, West Bengal on Friday reported highest single-day spike in new COVID-19 cases. 1,894 new cases were added in the tally of COVID-19 positive cases, taking the total to 38,011. 26 also succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1049.
