India to suspend UK flights at midnight; ban in effect till Dec 31

New Delhi | Mumbai: India will stop flights to and from the UK at midnight on Wednesday after the latter reported a new strain of Covid-19 that’s 70% more infectious and has been rampant across parts of Britain, leading to shutdowns. Various European nations and Canada have also barred UK flights. India’s ban is currently until the end of the year. “Considering the prevailing situation in (the) UK, (the) Govt. of India has decided that all flights originating from (the) UK to India to be suspended till 31st December 2020 (23.59 hours). This suspension to start w.e.f. 23.59 hours, 22nd December 2020,” the aviation ministry said in a series of tweets.

This will lead to the cancellation of 37 weekly nonstop flights to the UK from India by four carriers - Air India, Vistara, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Every passenger arriving from the UK ahead of the halt will be tested upon arrival. “As a measure of abundant precaution, passengers arriving from (the) UK in all transit flights (flights that have taken off or flights which are reaching India before 22nd Dec at 23.59 hrs) should be subject to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at the airports concerned,” the ministry said.

The Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Canada banned travellers from the UK on Sunday, a day after the country ordered a lockdown in London and surrounding areas, citing concerns over the new variant. “India has been seeing a sustained decline in the number of fresh Covid-19 cases for over two and half months, accompanied by a decline in the number of deaths,” health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in aletter to the civil aviation secretary that ET has seen. “In this scenario, any interjection of a SARSCoV-2 variant virus through passengers with air travel history could pose critical risks for the pandemic management in India.”

Calling it a development that calls for “enhanced epidemiological surveillance enhanced containment and other measures to effectively tackle the challenge,” Bhushan recommended various precautions. These are based on suggestions by the joint monitoring group headed by Directorate of Health Services (DGHS) and the vaccine task force headed by the principal scientific advisor and member health, Niti Aayog, which held a meeting on Monday to review the situation.

INSTITUTIONAL QUARANTINE
The health ministry suggested making institutional quarantine mandatory for all those found positive on arrival. Those found negative should be advised to isolate themselves at home for seven days and will be medically monitored by the states concerned, the health secretary said. Many of the health ministry’s recommendations are already in place for general travellers.

The ministry also asked state governments to set up help desks at airports to facilitate the process. “Relevant information in this regard may be prominently displayed in the arrival area, waiting area of the airports,” the letter said. A task force member said, “At no point we would want to take any risk. These stringent measures will have to be put in place till the year-end. The next course of action will be decided later.” The government “is alert and there is no need to panic,” Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said.

NIGHT CURFEW IMPOSED
The Maharashtra government issued its own set of travel guidelines, making institutional quarantine for 14 days mandatory for all those travelling from Europe and the Middle East on arrival. Passengers coming from other countries will be checked, have their hands stamped and be home quarantined, said the circular from chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.