A longer ban on flights from UK is not ruled out

• Indian civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that India might extend the temporary suspension of flights from the UK amid concerns over the new mutant strain of COVID-19.
• Indian suspended all flights from the United Kingdom on December 21 after reports termed the new strain of COVID-19 as a “super spreader”. The current suspension is in effect till December 31.
• This comes after samples of six UK returnees in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune tested positive with the new variant genome.

India does not rule out an extension on the temporary suspension of flights from the UK amid concerns over the new mutant strain of COVID-19. Indian civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that they are assessing the situation currently and that an appropriate decision will be taken on this issue in due course.

“We are applying our minds to (on the issue of) temporary suspension of UK flights as today is December 31. A decision will be taken shortly. But I personally foresee a short extension on this temporary suspension. I don’t see the extension to be long or indefinite,” he said.

“We went back to November 25 and did contact tracing, and genome sequencing of passengers who had directly or indirectly come from the UK since that date. So far seven people who came from the UK have been reported to have been detected with the new COVID strain,” Puri added.


Indian suspended all flights from the United Kingdom on December 21 after reports surfaced that the country has seen a new strain of COVID-19, which has been termed as a “super spreader”. The current suspension is in effect till December 31.

Within a day, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Italy had all suspended flights from the UK. They were followed by France, Bulgaria, Belgium, the Irish Republic, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Switzerland and Canada, who have now all suspended their flights from the UK.

This comes after at least 7 samples of UK returnees in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune tested positive with the new variant genome. The government said that they had been kept the returnees in a single-room-isolation in designated healthcare facilities.

“All these persons have been kept in single room isolation in designated Healthcare facilities by the respective state governments. Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine,” the Indian health ministry said.

It is important to note that the new UK Variant's presence has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore. The Aviation Minister Puri added that no decision on flight bans to these countries had been taken yet, but the government is monitoring the situation.

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