Foresee slight extension: Puri on suspension of UK flights

New Delhi, Dec 29: Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said the temporary banning on UK flights over the spreading of new coronavirus strain will be extended by a short period of time. The minister also said the extension will not be prolonged for a long or indefinite period.

"I foresee a short extension on this temporary suspension. I don't see the extension to be long or indefinite."

India on 21 December announced that it has temporarily banned flights from UK to the country after the emergence of a new and highly infectious strain of the coronavirus in Britain.

The suspension of flights from UK came into effect from 22 December midnight and will continue till 31 December, the government said.

Further, the ministry also added that as a measure of abundant precaution, passengers arriving from 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.

Meanwhile, India today reported six cases of a strain of Covid-19, which is 70% more transmissible and was first reported in UK.

All six patients recently returned from Britain. As per a government statement, three samples in NIMHANS of Bengaluru, two in CCMB, Hyderabad and one in NIV, Pune have been detected out of all the samples tested.

All the six infected people have been kept in single-room isolation in designated health care facilities by respective state governments in the country. The close contacts of the infected ones have also been put under quarantine.