Flight ban extended till Jan 7, UK variant found in 20 samples

The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday recommended to the Civil Aviation Ministry to extend the temporary suspension of flights originating from the United Kingdom until January 7. The number of samples detected in India with the new, more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus — the UK “variant under investigation” VUI-202012/01 — is now 20, the government said.

Based on inputs received from the Joint Monitoring Group (JMG) headed by Prof Balram Bhargava, DG, Indian Council of Medical Research, and the National Task Force headed jointly by Dr V K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, and Prof Bhargava, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Wednesday wrote to his counterpart in Civil Aviation, recommending that the flight ban, initially announced from December 23 until December 31, be extended.