Eight passengers who arrived in India last night on two different flights from London tested positive for COVID-19, while those on the British Airways aircraft that landed in the national capital this morning were tested, officials said today. These developments stem from increasing concerns about a new strain of coronavirus that has been discovered in the United Kingdom, leading to air travel from that country being blocked by a range of nations, including India, over the past few days. I
India’s ban on flights from the United Kingdom, however, will only come into effect from Wednesday, which will last until 31 December. Before then, the government added, all travellers coming from the United Kingdom would be checked on arrival at airports.
Six passengers who were screened positive on their arrival in India were among the 266 who travelled on the Air India Flight which landed in the national capital at 10:40 p.m. on Monday.
Government official Awanish Kumar, who is helping to organise the experiments at New Delhi airport, said it was “unclear” whether either of them had a new pressure. “It is unclear…NCDC will confirm this,” said Mr Kumar, referring to the National Centre for Disease Control, to which samples of the passengers checked in Delhi have been sent.
One of the six took a connecting flight to Chennai and tested positive there, according to the Agency’s analysis.
