India halts UK flights till New Year - Objective is to shield the country against the possible entry of the mutant coronavirus variant

Several other countries like France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Iran and Turkey too have temporarily suspended flights to and from the UK. : Shutterstock

TT Bureau   |   New Delhi   |    22.12.20  :  India on Monday suspended flights to and from the United Kingdom till December 31, citing the emergence of a fast-spreading mutant strain of the novel coronavirus in that country.

The suspension starts from 11.59pm on Tuesday. Till then, all the passengers flying in from the UK would be tested on arrival at the airports and quarantined if found positive, the government said.

The objective is to shield the country against the possible entry of the mutant coronavirus variant that is believed to have caused 70 per cent of all the new infections in the UK and forced its government to impose a stricter lockdown.

Several other countries like France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Iran and Turkey too have temporarily suspended flights to and from the UK.

India had anyway suspended all scheduled international flights on March 23 because of the pandemic, and they remain suspended at least till December 31.

Currently, the only international flights allowed are special flights like chartered flights, international passenger flights under air bubble arrangements, and repatriation flights.

Under an air bubble pact between two countries, special international passenger flights can be operated by their airlines to each others’ territories under restrictive conditions.

India has air bubble pacts with 23 countries, including the US and the UK.

At present, Indian airlines like Vistara and Air India operate flights to the UK (which have now been suspended).

Vistara operates daily flights between Delhi and London, and three weekly flights between Mumbai and London. National carrier Air India operates three weekly flights each from New Delhi and Mumbai to London and back.

British Airlines has six weekly flights between Delhi and London, and five weekly flights between Mumbai and London. Virgin Atlantic operates four weekly flights each from Mumbai and New Delhi to London and back.

The Union health ministry had on Monday requested the suspension, citing concerns about the new B.1.1.7 variant of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

Scientists say the B.1.1.7 variant — not detected so far in India — contains an unusually large number of genetic changes whose full implications remain unclear but are believed to increase its transmission efficiency.

India has since mid-September witnessed a sustained decline in the number of fresh Covid-19 cases as well as the number of active patients.

“In this scenario, any interjection of the coronavirus variant through passengers with air travel history could pose critical risks for pandemic management in India,” health secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to the civil aviation ministry.

India’s total number of lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases has exceeded 10 million but the epidemic has been shrinking since mid-September’s peak of over one million active cases. The health ministry on Monday recorded 24,284 new cases and around 300,000 active patients.

British health authorities recorded over 35,000 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday.

Analysts said the flight suspension would have a “negligible impact” on the travel industry since air traffic on international routes remained low.

“Due to current environment of Covid and the quarantine rules, tourism to the UK in any case had not picked up,” said Nishant Pitti, CEO, EaseMyTrip.com, an online travel agency.

The flight suspension was suggested by a joint monitoring group headed by the director-general of health services, a vaccine task force headed by the principal scientific adviser to the government, and the member (health) in the Niti Aayog.