The Indian government has announced that it is mulling over the resumption of international flights over potential outbreak posed by the Omicron variant. It will review Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) on testing and surveillance of incoming international passengers, especially for those countries identified ‘at risk’ category, an official statement said.
Genomic surveillance for variants will be further strengthened and intensified. Airport Health Officials (APHOs) and Port Health Officials (PHOs) will be sensitized for strict supervision of testing protocol at airports/ ports. Decision on effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passengers service will be reviewed as per evolving global scenario, it said. India had earlier decided to resume international flight operations from December 15.
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The meeting was held with various experts, Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, Dr Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to Prime Minister and senior officers from Health, Civil Aviation and other ministries.
Ahead of this, Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal had said international flight services were expected to be normalised by the end of this year. Scheduled international passenger flights to and from India remain suspended since March last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. India has air bubble arrangements with more than 25 countries for operating international flights. On resumption of normal services to global destinations, Bansal said international flight services are expected to be normalised “very soon" and “by the end of this year". Under an air bubble arrangement between the two countries, international passenger flights can be operated by their respective carriers into each other’s territories subject to certain conditions.
On Tuesday, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said his ministry had made all preparations in the face of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus. We are putting emphasis on keeping an eye on passengers coming from the 12 countries considered sensitive for the new variant," he told reporters here.
“Though it will affect flight movement, precaution is necessary, he added. The Union government has issued directives that passengers arriving from South Africa, Botswana and Israel among other countries be screened at the airports, and also asked the states to remain alert. Scindia, meanwhile, also informed that programs will be started to give a fillip to drone technology in Madhya Pradesh.
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In line with the same, a survey done by LocalCircles, a majority of people want the Centre to reconsider its decision on lifting of foreign flights in light of the new Omicron or Covid B.1.1.529 variant. “Two in three citizens want the government to reconsider its decision about restarting international flights from December 15, 2021, in light of the new Omicron or Covid B.1.1.529 variant," the survey showed.
At present, several countries in Europe have gone into lockdowns due to rising Covid-19 Delta cases and Japan has suspended international flights.
A few other countries have either banned or placed strict restrictions on international flights.
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