All flights from the UK to India and vice versa will remain suspended from Wednesday to December 31, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Monday in view of the emergence of a mutated variant of the coronavirus there.
Moreover, the ministry said passengers coming from the UK through flights till Tuesday would be tested for COVID-19 on arrival at the airports "as a measure of abundant precaution".
A number of countries like Canada, Turkey, Belgium, Italy and Israel have banned flights from the UK as the British government warned that the potent new strain of the virus was "out of control" and imposed a stringent new stay-at-home lockdown from Sunday.
The Civil Aviation Ministry tweeted: "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)."
This suspension will start after 11.59 PM of December 22 and consequently, flights from India to the UK shall also stand temporarily suspended during the above said period, it added.
"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," it mentioned.
A chorus was growing within the political corridors of India to ban flights from UK with many countries around the world opting for a similar approach.
Expressing concern over the new coronavirus strain in the UK, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday demanded that the Centre ban all flights from the UK immediately in view of the emergence of a mutated variant of the coronavirus there.
"New mutation of coronavirus has emerged in UK, which is a super-spreader. I urge central govt to ban all flights from UK immediately," Kejriwal tweeted.
In a tweet, Gehlot said India was late in banning international flights when COVID-19 had started spreading, leading to a drastic spike in cases in the country.
"The new strain of novel coronavirus emerging in the UK is a matter of great concern. GoI must take prompt action, prepare a contingency plan to contain the same & also immediately ban all flights from the UK & other European countries," he tweeted.
"India needs both a preparedness plan as well as steps to restrict any movement from affected countries. Our medical experts must be ready with a treatment plan in case of any outbreak of the new strain of virus. Health protocols must be adhered to even more strictly," the chief minister said.
Earlier, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said, "The government is fully alert about everything. If you ask me, there is no reason to panic the way we are seeing in this press conference," the minister said amid concerns about the new strain.
He said the government had done everything that was important to handle the Covid-19 situation in the last one year. The scientific community, he added, had very ably risen to the occasion, continuously striving and contributing to whatever was needed to combat and understand any aspect of Covid-19.
Responding to a question on the panic and a demand to ban flights from the UK, Vardhan told reporters, "I would say this to all that all these imaginary situations, imaginary talks, imaginary panic... don't involve yourself in this."
The Union Health Ministry has called an urgent meeting of its Joint Monitoring Group on Monday to discuss the emergence of the new strain in the UK, which has led to a surge in the infection rate there.
