Aviation Minister hints at resumption of domestic air travel, says 'awaiting green signal'

With the country witnessing the third phase of the lockdown and the Centre announcing gradual relaxation, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has stated that the preparations to restart domestic flights are in place. Domestic air travel was restricted in March amid the rising number of Coronavirus cases. Since then, the date of resumption has been deferred regularly with respect to the extension of lockdown. 

The Civil Aviation Minister has also stated that as soon as the Centre gives its nod to resume domestic flights, the industry will be able to take off immediately. The industry has been severely hit with the lockdown as several airlines have announced pay cuts for employees. With no flights, certain airlines have also sent their staff on forced leaves. 

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Coronavirus outbreak

India has so far reported 59,662 cases of COVID-19, of which 17,847 patients have recovered while 1,981 have died. The recovery rate has reached 30% while the fatality rate stands at around 3%. In the Northeast, Tripura has the highest number of cases with 118 patients or which only two have recovered. While Assam has reported 59 cases of which 34 have recovered while one patient has died, the only COVID death in the region.

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Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Saturday met with health ministers and other officials from eight Northeast States to take stock of the situation on COVID-19 response. Speaking to the media after almost three hours of discussions, Harsh Vardhan lauded the States for their response to the outbreak and noted that only two of the eight states in the region have active patients of COVID-19.

"We held detailed discussions with authorities in eight Northeast States lasting almost 2.45 hours on COVID response and also non-COVID issues. They have performed really well. The region has a total of 194 cases of COVID-19 and the two States with most cases are Tripura – where 2-3 camps of a BSF battalion reported infections, and Assam which has reported around 60 cases," Harsh Vardhan said.

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