Flights from India to UK to start from January 6: Hardeep Singh Puri

India had suspended passenger flights to and from Britain from Dec 23 to Jan 7 to check the spread of mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus in Britain

Flights to Britain from India would begin on January 6, two days earlier than what was previously announced, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday.

Air services from Britain to India would begin on January 8, the minister said, even as the Health Ministry issued guidelines for stricter surveillance of passengers to guard against the spread of the mutant strain of the coronavirus detected in Britain.

Read: All UK passengers to India to be tested for Covid-19 on arrival between January 8-30

The minister said 30 flights would operate between the two countries per week – 15 each by Indian and British air carriers. Earlier, the minister had announced that the flights would resume on January 8. “This schedule is valid till January 23, 2021. Further frequency will be determined after review,” he said.

India had suspended passenger flights to and from Britain from December 23 to January 7 to check the spread of the mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus in Britain.

As per the new standard operating procedures, passengers will be tested before boarding the flight in Britain and upon arrival in India at the cost of the passenger.

On arrival, passengers who test negative will have to undergo a 14-day home quarantine as against seven days. Those who test positive will be placed in institutional quarantine facilities and their swab samples would be sent for genome sequencing to ascertain whether they are infected with the new strain of the virus.

Also Read | India successfully cultures new strain of novel coronavirus from UK: ICMR

The patient with the new strain of the virus would be kept in separate isolation and shall be tested on the 14th day after having tested positive in the initial test.

“The patient will be kept in the isolation facility till his sample is tested negative,” the health ministry guidelines said.

The contacts of passengers who test positive will also be subject to institutional quarantine. The Bureau of Immigration has been asked to provide the passenger manifest of the flights landing from Britain to New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai airports to the state governments and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme.