New COVID-19 variant | Govt postpones resumption of scheduled international flights; air bubbles to continue

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Amid emerging risks from the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, the government on December 1 said it will postpone the resumption of scheduled commercial international flight services.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the government would take a call on a new date to resume scheduled international flights in "due course".

The situation is being "watched closely in view of emergence of new COVID variant", the aviation sector regulatory body said.

The DGCA, however, clarified that flights operating under the air bubble agreements "will continue".

"Scheduled international flights were going to restart from December 15 as per our earlier notification, now the government has decided to revert back to the earlier regime of flights operating under air bubble agreements," an official from the DGCA told Moneycontrol. 

The frequency of flights under air-bubble agreements will be a product of demand from those destinations, the official said. He added that most domestic and international airlines have not received a large number of bookings for flights beyond December 15, and hence the government's decision is not expected to disrupt the travel plans of many individuals.

The DGCA will coordinate with both domestic and international airlines for bookings beyond December 15, and customers will be provided the option to refund or reschedule tickets, another official at DGCA said.

The decision to postpone the resumption of scheduled international air services comes five days after the Ministry of Civil Aviation had announced that such flights would resume from December 15, after a gap of about 20 months.

Also read | New COVID-19 Variant: Centre asks states, UTs to send all samples for genome sequencing from hotspots

The World Health Organization (WHO), on November 26, had classified Omicron as a "variant of concern". Since then, several countries have either partially shut their borders or delayed their plans to resume regular international flights.

The Indian government subsequently announced that passengers arriving from "at-risk" countries would be required to undergo seven-day quarantine. Their samples would be collected for RT-PCR tests at the airports, and they would also be tested on the eighth day after their arrival.

The list of "at-risk" countries includes European nations, the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel.

Also read | Omicron variant could outcompete Delta, South African disease expert says

Apart from the Centre, the Maharashtra government has also released a stringent set of guidelines, mandating seven-day institutional quarantine for travellers arriving in the state from the above-mentioned countries.

As per the guidelines issued by the State Disaster Management Authority on November 30, such passengers would also have to undergo RT-PCR tests on the second, fourth and seventh day of their arrival.

If a passenger is found to be positive, he or she will be shifted to a hospital. In case the result is negative, the passenger will have to be home-quarantined for seven days.

Passengers from other than "at-risk" countries will have to undergo a compulsory RT-PCR test at the airport. Even if found negative, they will be home-quarantined for 14 days. If found positive, the patient will be shifted to a hospital, the guidelines said.

The new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, first detected in South Africa this week, was designated as a Variant of Concern by the World Health Organization on November 26.