Heathrow Airport, London
Decision taken due to spread of new strain of coronavirus in UK
Flights suspended between December 22 and 31, 2020
Mandatory RT-PCR test for passengers in transit flights
New Delhi: India has temporarily suspended all flights originating from the United Kingdom into India from December 22 to December 31, 2020. Announcing this today, Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Civil Aviation (Independent Charge), said the decision has been taken as a precaution following spread of a new strain of coronavirus in the UK. Reports suggest that the new Coronavirus strain is considered up to 70% more transmissible than the earlier one, which has compelled the British government impose an effective lockdown on almost 18 million people in England and reversed plans to ease curbs over Christmas.
In Geneva, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated today that there was as of now no evidence whether new variants of the COVID-19 virus in South Africa and the United Kingdom were likely to cause severe death or mortality.
“Viruses mutate over time; that’s natural and expected…WHO is working with scientists to understand how these genetic changes affect how the virus behaves,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists. He said the bottom line was that transmission of all SARS-CoV-2 viruses were needed to be suppressed quickly. “The more we allow it to spread, the more opportunity it has to change,” he said. According to him while safe and effective vaccines offered hope, but they were not an excuse for people to let down their guard and put themselves and their loved ones at risk. He reiterated that besides the old persons, COVID-19 also affected children and adults in a variety of ways, and it can attack every system in the body, and a growing number of people suffer with long-term consequences of the virus.
“This includes neurological complications for children and adults, which are still being researched, he said. He expressed concerns that while vaccines were offering hope for some, vaccine nationalism will deprive the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people of these life-saving tools. “Now is the time for political commitment to be translated into action,”he said.
Meanwhile, the suspension of flights by Indian government will start with effect from 23.59 hours of December 22, 2020. However, this restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA.
“The Government of India has decided to take all necessary precautions as a result of the situation arising out of the spread of a new strain of coronavirus in some countries,” the Minister stated.
Airlines operating flights to India from other countries shall not board any passenger travelling from UK to India and shall ensure that no passenger coming from UK is boarded in a flight for any destination in India either directly or indirectly.
As a measure of precaution, passengers arriving from UK in all transit flights (flights that have taken off or flights which are reaching India before December 22, 2020 at 23.59 hrs) should be subject to mandatory RT-PCR test at the arrival port in India. The passengers found Covid-19 positive on arrival shall be quarantined as per guidelines issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and would bear the medical costs incurred, the Ministry of Civil Aviation stated.
Besides India, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands, Canada, Iran, Hong Kong, Israel and Russia too had placed restrictions on travelling to and from UK.
– global bihari bureau
