India suspends flights from UK due to ‘prevailing situation’ with new Covid strain

India announced a temporary ban on flights from the UK until 31 December effective from midnight on Tuesday, spooked by a new and more transmissible strain of the coronavirus. The decision was taken after a meeting of health ministry officials earlier on Monday.

“Considering the prevailing situation in (the) UK, the government of India has decided to suspend all flights originating from the UK to India," India’s civil aviation ministry said.

“Consequently flights from India to UK shall stand temporarily suspended... 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 22 December at 23:59 hours) should be subject to mandatory RT-PCR test on arrival at the airports concerned,” according to a tweet posted by the official Twitter account of India’s civil aviation ministry.

The reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)  test is currently being used to detect the coronavirus.

The ban by India comes after several countries including France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Bulgaria and Denmark imposed restrictions on flights from the UK. On Saturday, authorities in the UK announced that they have found a new strain of coronavirus that is 70 per cent more transmissible which later led to the shutdown of London and adjacent areas.

British Airways, which operates a number of UK-India flight routes, said it was forced to operate a “reduced and dynamic schedule” due to the pandemic, and that customers on cancelled flights would be kept informed.

“We will be contacting customers whose flights are cancelled to offer refund options, as well as encouraging customers who wish to change their booking to do so via ba.com, where they can also request a voucher for future travel if their flight continues to operate,” a spokesperson told The Independent.

Britain’s prime minister Boris Johnson accepted an invitation only last week to appear as the guest of honour at India’s Republic Day celebrations late next month. It remains unclear whether his trip would be impacted by the ban on passenger flights, if indeed the restrictions are extended.

Last week, British foreign secretary Dominic Raab, during his four-day India visit, had confirmed Mr Johnson’s visit for the Republic Day celebrations while adding that they (Britain) “have been too myopically focused just on Europe." 

Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal added his voice to a growing chorus on a ban on UK flights. “New mutation of coronavirus has emerged in UK, which is a super-spreader. I urge central government to ban all flights from UK immediately,” Mr Kejriwal tweeted.

Earlier in the day, India’s health minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan, had cautioned against panicking about “imaginary situations, imaginary talks.”

“The government is fully alert … there's no reason to panic,” said Dr Vardhan.

Meanwhile, the new strain of coronavirus, identified as VUI-202012/01, has also been found in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Australia. The new mutation of the Covid-19 virus that sparked concern around the world has been described by the British health secretary, Matt Hancock, as “out of control.”