The West Bengal government decides to suspend all direct flights temporarily from the United Kingdom to Kolkata with effect from January 3 until further notice amid the Omicron scare.
Further, with effect from 3rd January, 2022, all passengers coming from other non-at-risk countries by international flights to West Bengal will have to mandatorily undergo a test on arrival at their cost. The airlines will randomly select 10% of the passengers for the RT-PCR test and the balance 90% shall undergo Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) at the arrival airport. Those found positive in the RAT test will have to further undergo RT-PCR tests as may be required by the health authorities.
Earlier today, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that COVID-19 cases in Kolkata were rising as it was a transit point for people traveling on trains and flights.
“Most omicron cases are being detected among people coming on flights from the UK. It’s a fact that the omicron carriers are coming via international flights. The Centre must decide on imposing restrictions on flights from countries where omicron cases are high,” PTI had quoted her as saying.
Further, all passengers have to mandatorily pre-book test before boarding to reduce wasting time on arrival, which the airlines must ensure prior to allowing the boarding.
Accordingly, the airport authorities may be asked to augment the holding capacity of the aerial Lounge on the international side and also increase the number of testing counters so as to reduce the waiting time for the passengers at the airport, the report further added.
“Further, the airlines may be requested to evenly space oat the flight arrivals in NSCBI, Kolkata in consultation with the Airport Director and the state nodal officer so as to reduce waiting time,” it further added.
The COVID-19 situation in West Bengal deteriorated as the state on Wednesday registered more than 1,000 daily cases after a gap of 177 days, a health bulletin said.
Kolkata registered 540 of the 1,089 new cases as the state’s tally rose to 16,32,906, it said.
The death toll went up to 19,745 after 12 more patients succumbed to the disease, it added.
Meanwhile, India recorded the highest single-day rise of Omicron infections with 180 fresh cases, taking the total tally of such infections in the country to 961, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated today.
