India bans flights from UK amidst reports of new coronavirus strain
India on Monday decided to temporarily suspend all flights from the United Kingdom to India after reports of a new highly infectious strain of the coronavirus.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation said that the suspension shall be in effect from 11:59 pm on December 22 till 11:59 pm on December 31.
Considering the prevailing situation in UK. Govt. of India has decided that all flights originating from UK to India to be suspended till 31st December 2020 (23.59 hours).
— MoCA_GoI (@MoCA_GoI) December 21, 2020
The ministry also said that all passengers arriving from UK in flights which are reaching India before 11:59 pm on December 22 will be subjected to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival.
Many European countries, suspecting the highly infectious nature of the new strain, have already closed their borders with the UK, including France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Bulgaria and the Irish Republic.
Other countries, such as Turkey, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Iran, Croatia, Argentina, Chile, Morocco and Kuwait, have also followed suit.
(Edited by Anirban Paul & Andre Kongri)
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