Two passengers who arrived in Delhi on a flight from the United Kingdom on January 8 have tested positive for COVID-19. They were among the 256 passengers who landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 10.30 am via Air India's AI112 flight from London.
The flight operations between the United Kingdom and India resumed on January 8, after a gap of 16 days due to the emergence of a new coronavirus variant in that country. The Indian government had suspended the passenger flight operations on December 23, 2020.
Taking precautionary steps, the Union government has advised passengers to keep a gap of at least 10 hours between their arrival from the UK and the connecting flight to their cities.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri has clearly stated that 30 flights will operate every week - 15 each by Indian and UK carriers, and this restriction will stand till January 23, 2021. However, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had urged the Centre to extend the passenger flights ban till January 31, citing 'extreamly serious' COVID-19 situation in Britain.
Earlier in the day, passengers arriving at IGI Airport from London's Heathrow Airport complained of chaos and confusion over new quarantine rules imposed by the Arvind Kejriwal government.
The state government issued a new directive making a seven-day institutional quarantine mandatory for even those passengers who tested negative for COVID-19.
As per the Delhi government's latest mandate, all passengers arriving from the UK will have to undergo mandatory RT-PCR test in the UK as well as in India. Passengers are also required to undergo a mandatory seven-day institutional quarantine on arrival.
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