India on Wednesday took the decision to extend the ban on flights from the United Kingdom till January 7 in view of the detection of cases of the new strain of Coronavirus in the country.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri took to twitter to announce the extension of the ban.
So far, 20 returnees from the UK have tested for the new Covid-19 variant which is believed to be more infectious. Earlier, the Indian government has announced a week long suspension of UK flights till December 31.
Also, the government announced that all the international passengers who returned to the country during the last 14 days and tested positive for Covid-19 will have to undergo genome sequencing.
The new strain of the virus is believed to be 70% more infectious than the previous one and has also been found more likely to infect people between the age group 30-60 years.
(Feature image source: RACQ)
