India-UK flights to resume limited operations from Jan 8 amid mutated Coronavirus scare

Even as the number of individuals infected with the new Coronavirus variant in India reaches 29, Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said that flights between India and the United Kingdom will resume operations from January 8, 2021, onwards. The Union Ministry had imposed a ban on air travel between India and the UK, as reports suggested that the mutated Coronavirus had emerged from the European country and was spreading across the globe. While the ban will be lifted January 8 onwards, operations will be limited to only 15 flights per week for each carrier till January 23. Moreover, flights will only be allowed to operate to and from 4 cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. 

29 cases of mutated virus

Amid the threat of the new strain of the Coronavirus, four more people in India were found to be infected with the new variant, taking the cumulative number of infected people with the UK variant to 29 in the country. India on Thursday reported five new cases of the new strain of coronavirus and previously, 14 were reported on Wednesday and six on Tuesday.

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The mutation reportedly first emerged in South East England and experts stated that the new strain is 70% more transmissible than the previous one. The new strain of Coronavirus is more dominating than the previous one, according to the experts, and has compelled UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce stricter stay-at-home lockdown measures in the UK amid the festive season. However, experts have also opined that the vaccines in contention and even those that have been granted EUA will be effective against the new strain.

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Coronavirus situation in India

Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 active caseload continued to exhibit a sustained downward slide and has significantly dropped to 2,54,254 on Friday, the lowest after 179 days according to Union Health Ministry. The daily new cases in India in recent days have been around 20,000. The number of fresh Coronavirus cases in a span of 24 hours stood at 20,036. The total number of recovered cases is set to reach the 99 lakh mark on Saturday as the recovered cases stood at 98,83,461 on Friday with the addition of 23,181 recoveries in 24 hours.

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