News Desk :
India has further extended the suspension of international flights to and from the country till May 31 amid the aggressive surge of Covid-19 that so far claimed more than 200,000 people.
The restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the aviation regulator, according to a circular issued by Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday, reports BSS.
The fresh circular was issued as the earlier deadline
for flights suspension was to end on Friday.
“The international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis” said the circular.
Scheduled international passenger services have been suspended in India since March 23 last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But special international flights have been operating under the “Vande Bharat Mission” since May last year and under bilateral “air bubble” arrangements with selected countries including Bangladesh since July.
Meanwhile, Australia announced a temporary ban on direct passenger flights from India early this week due to rapid rise of coronavirus in the country. Later, Canada, the UAE and Britain also followed the move restricting flights operations with India.
According to Union Health Ministry statistics released this morning, India witnessed another record spike with 3.86 lakh Covid cases during the last 24 hours that took the country’s total caseload to 1,87crore.
A total of 3,4,98 people died in coronavirus infection during the last 24 hours across the country, the statistic added.
