Following a new strain of coronavirus infection, the civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) extended on Wednesday the suspension of all international flight operations in the country until January 31, 2021. ” Government of India extends suspension of international commercial flights until January 31, 2021, “said the civil aviation regulator. However, the restrictions will not apply to international air cargo operations and flights specially approved by the DGCA.
“Scheduled international flights may be allowed on routes selected by the competent authority on a case-by-case basis,” the DGCA had said.
India suspended all flight operations in the last week of March to curb the spread of COVID-19. After a two-month hiatus, domestic flight operations resumed on May 25 after the strict measures.
To bring back stranded Indians from around the world, the central government launched the Vande Bharat Mission on May 6. Air India and several other private domestic airlines have been operating flights under the Vande Bharat mission ever since. More than 3.9 million have returned to India from different countries under the mission, the civil aviation minister said. “Now, in Phase 7, the mission with 23 active air bubbles has become the largest repatriation mission of its kind,” Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri previously said.
India on Wednesday extended the ban on flights from the United Kingdom to January 7 next year. The decision was made after 20 people tested positive for the new COVID-19 variant. Hardeep Singh Puri said: “A decision has been made to extend the temporary suspension of flights to and from the UK until 7 January 2021.” “A strictly regulated restart will take place thereafter, details of which will be announced shortly,” Puri wrote on Twitter. More than 30 countries have suspended air links with Great Britain because of the new strain.
Authorities were trying to locate tens of thousands of people who entered the country from Britain in recent weeks, as cases of a new, rapidly spreading strain of coronavirus doubled in 24 hours. “A full contact tracing has been initiated for fellow travelers, family contacts and others,” the Health Ministry said Tuesday.
India recorded the second highest number of coronavirus cases in the world behind the United States, with more than 10 million infections and 145,000 deaths.
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