In light of the emergence of a new strain of COVID-19, India on Monday took several steps as concerns mounted across the country. The Union Health Ministry has called an urgent meeting of its Joint Monitoring Group on Monday to discuss the emergence of the mutated variant of the coronavirus that has led to an increase in the infection rate in the UK.
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The Center suspended all flights to and from the UK from December 22 to December 31, joining several other nations sealing their borders with the UK, as the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the government You are alert and there is no need to panic.
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All passengers coming from the UK via flights until Tuesday (December 22) will be required to undergo an RT-PCR test for COVID-19 upon arrival at airports “as an abundant precautionary measure,” said the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also issued a directive for all airlines to the effect that passengers coming from the UK should not be able to board their flights from any other city to India during the suspension period. The regulator said the suspension, which occurs in the week of Christmas, would not apply to cargo flights.
Several countries, including France, Canada, Turkey, Belgium, Italy and Israel, have banned flights from the UK, and the British government has warned that the powerful new strain of the virus was “out of control” and was imposing a new, strict lockdown. from the house since Sunday.
“Taking into account the prevailing situation in the United Kingdom, the Government of India has decided that all flights from the United Kingdom to India will be suspended until December 31, 2020 (11:59 p.m.),” said the Ministry Civil Aviation on Twitter.
This suspension will start after 11:59 pm on December 22 and consequently flights from India to the UK will also be temporarily suspended during the period, he added. “As a precautionary measure, passengers arriving from the UK on all transit flights (flights that have taken off or flights that arrive in India before December 22nd at 11:59 PM) should be subject to a RT test -PCR mandatory upon arrival at the airports in question, “it read.
The Union Health Minister said: “The government is fully alert about everything. If you ask me, there is no reason to panic about the way we are looking at this press conference.” He said the government had done everything that was important to handle the COVID-19 situation in the past year. The scientific community, he added, had skillfully risen to the occasion, continually striving and contributing whatever was necessary to combat and understand any aspect of COVID-19.
A Vistara spokesperson said the airline will comply with the government’s order to suspend UK flights. “In order to minimize inconvenience for our clients, we will enable the one-time free rescheduling of affected reservations for any date until December 31, 2021,” the spokesperson said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last week that a new, fast-moving variant of the virus that is 70% more transmissible than existing strains appeared to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England. in the last weeks. But he stressed that “there is no evidence to suggest that it is more lethal or causes more serious disease,” or that vaccines will be less effective against it.
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