In view of the fast-spreading new strain of the deadly coronavirus in the United Kingdom, India has joined the list of countries that have placed travel restrictions to and from the British nation.
India, in today’s crucial meeting, announced it is suspending flights arriving from the UK and those taking off to reach the land of Britons, starting Wednesday.
With this, it becomes one of the dozen nations that have come forward to ban air travel pertaining to the country which is battling another strain of the virus told to be 70% more infectious than its older variant.
Stating the same, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in an official statement, “Considering the prevailing situation in UK, the government of India has decided that all flights originating from UK to India to be suspended till 31st December,” adding, “Consequently flights from India to UK shall stand temporarily suspended during above said period.”
As the ban will be enforced from Wednesday, those passengers landing in the nation from Britain prior to it will be mandatorily tested upon arrival at airports itself.
As told yesterday by officials, the meeting to discuss the necessary measures to be taken up for ceasing the entry of the new even more vicious strain into India was completed today morning.
Taking the infections count by storm, the virus has baffled many countries forcing the governments to block flights and other commuters from coming into the borders of their nation in order to safeguard their citizens. Apart from India, Saudi Arabia, Romania, Canada, France and many other European countries have placed the ban on flights. While the US has chosen to let it pass for now, Australia said that it is confident that the compulsory 14-day quarantine rule of the country will suffice to control the virus spread.
At a time when the world was about to rejoice having known much about covid-19 with vaccines too rolling out in many countries, the new strain has left experts dizzy as there is no information at hand regarding it. However, experts say the developed preventive shots will still be effective against this new variant.
Aiming to put the people’s worries to rest, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the government was completely aware and alert of the situation and stressed that “there’s no need to panic”.
Citizens around the country have been urging the government to call for a ban, including one from Delhi’s Chief Minister. Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to request the Centre for drawing a suspension on the air travel to and from the UK. “New mutation of corona virus has emerged in UK, which is a super-spreader. I urge central government to ban all flights from UK immediately,” read his tweet of yesterday.
India shares an “air bubble” pact with the United Kingdom under which Indians are allowed to travel to the nation and vise versa amid the pandemic.
Despite being the second highest holder of infections in the world, India does not mandate a quarantine period but rather a negative covid-19 test result taken 72 hours prior to landing in India.
The new mutant strain was discovered in a patient first in September in Britain. It began marking its territory in many parts of the UK and London leading to all-time high cases, further inducing a strict lockdown in the country.
On Sunday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said “the new variant is out of control”.
With the British Health Secretary Matt Hancock himself terming the variant’s situation as “out of control”, it had become a necessity to impose the travel restrictions.
The same mutant was also found in a patient from Italy who had returned from England some days back.
