The General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) modified its order on Wednesday to extend the suspension of international flights until January 31. The DGCA also said that international flights to and from the UK will remain suspended until January 7.
The suspension follows the discovery of cases of a new infectious strain of SARS-Cov-2, detected for the first time in the United Kingdom. On December 30, the union health ministry recommended to the civil aviation ministry that it extend the suspension of flights between India and the UK until January 7, the PTI news agency reported. The recommendation was based on input from the joint monitoring group headed by the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) and the National Task Force headed by the DG, Indian Council of Medical Research. The Health Ministry will submit the samples from all international passengers who arrived in India on December 9-22 and tested positive for Covid-19, to genome sequencing to detect the mutated Covid-19 strain.
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“All international passengers who have arrived in India during the last 14 days (December 9-22), if they show symptoms and test positive, will undergo genome sequencing,” the union health ministry said in a statement on 30 from December.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday that flights will resume in a strictly regulated manner after January 7, 2021. “A decision has been made to extend the temporary suspension of flights to and from the UK until on January 7, 2021. From then on, strictly regulated will resume, details of which will be announced shortly, ”Puri said on Twitter.
The government has made efforts to locate thousands of people who have entered India from the UK in recent weeks. More than 25 countries have suspended air travel with the UK due to the new Covid-19 strain.
Scheduled international flights have been suspended in India from March 23 to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Special international flights operated within air bubble agreements with other countries since July.
The DGCA has exempted international cargo flights from the modified suspension order. The order also noted that the suspension will not apply to flights specifically approved by the DGCA.
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