Omicron: It is a setback says Scindia in Lok Sabha

New Delhi, Dec 02: Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia informed Parliament that 11 countries including UK, South Africa, Botswana, China, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Israel, have been placed in the 'at-risk' category following the spread of Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Scindia said that there will be RT-PCR tests for flyers from at-risk nations.

"It has been our effort over the last six months to slowly increase flights, internationally as well.

Omicron is a setback as all countries across the world need to be safe therefore several countries have put different yardsticks, I think the yardstick put in place by our government, with putting 11 countries marked as at risk and testing them completely, is the right way to go, Scindia said.

"At present, we have air bubble agreement with 31 countries and have a proposal with 10 other nations to start air bubble agreement," Scindia said in a response to a question regarding the current situation of air bubbles.