COVID-19: Britain’s Heathrow airport refuses to allow extra flights from India

On Friday, India added to a red list of countries from which most travel to the UK is banned, over fears of a new Covid variant, said the secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock. Now, Britain’s Heathrow Airport has also refused to allow extra flights from India before the country. This move by Britain comes after it discovered more than 100 cases of a coronavirus first identified in India.

Matt Hancock told parliament: “We’ve made the difficult but vital decision to add India to the Red List. This means anyone who is not a UK or Irish resident or a British citizen cannot enter the UK if they’ve been in India in the previous 10 days.”

The airport authorities also told news agency Reuters that it did not want to worsen existing pressures at the border by permitting more passengers to fly in.

The health secretary stated that the decision had been made on a “precautionary basis.” Any resident of the UK or Ireland, or a British citizen, cannot enter the UK if they have been to India in the previous 10 days. UK residents arriving in the country from India will have to quarantine in a hotel for 11 nights. The rule will come into effect on April 23.

A few days back, Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom also canceled his trip to India due to the rise in the COVID-19 cases.

Stay tuned to The Live Mirror for more updates.

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