India / I urge Centre to extend ban on UK flights till January 31: Delhi CM Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday urged the Centre to extend the ban on flights between India and the U.K. till January 31 in view of the “extremely serious” COVID situation in that country.

“The Centre has decided to lift the ban and start U.K. flights. In view of the extremely serious situation in U.K., I would urge central government to extend the ban till January 31,” Mr. Kejriwal said on Twitter.

Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said on Saturday flights from India to the U.K. will resume from January 6, while services from that country to here would resume January 8 onwards.

Mr. Puri had tweeted, “30 flights will operate every week. 15 each by Indian & UK carriers. This schedule is valid till 23 Jan 2021. Further frequency will be determined after review".

India had suspended all passenger flights connecting the two countries from December 23 to January 7 as a new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus emerged in the U.K..

According to the standard operating procedures issued by the health ministry, all passengers coming from the U..K between January 8 and January 30 would be subjected to self-paid COVID-19 tests on arrival.

Moreover, each passenger arriving from the U.K. would have to bring his or her COVID-19 negative report from a test done 72 hours prior to the journey, it said.