New Delhi: India on Wednesday extended the suspension of all flights from the United Kingdom till January 7, said Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
“Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to & from the UK till 7 January 2021. Thereafter strictly regulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly”, the Union Minister said.
India had initially announced the suspension of flights from the UK from December 23 to 31.
According to the Union Health Ministry, as many as 20 persons have been found with the mutant variant of SARS- CoV-2 virus reported from UK.
These include the six persons reported earlier (3 in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, 2 in CCMB, Hyderabad and 1 in NIV, Pune). 107 samples were tested in the 10 labs.
The Centre has constituted the INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium) comprising 10 labs (NIBMG Kolkata, ILS Bhubaneswar, NIV Pune, CCS Pune, CCMB Hyderabad, CDFD Hyderabad, InSTEM Bengaluru, NIMHANS Bengaluru, IGIB Delhi, NCDC Delhi) for genome sequencing.