Kolkata: West Bengal government on Thursday decided to suspend all direct flights from the United Kingdom to Kolkata from January 3 amid the rise in Omicron cases in the city.
In a letter to Rajiv Bansal, secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation by state home secretary BP Gopalika, the state government has cleared that from January 3 no flights from the UK will land in Kolkata.
“Passengers from low risk countries will have to undergo a test at their own cost at the airport. The passengers will have to book the test before boarding the flight to reduce waiting time. The airlines will choose 10 percent passengers for RT-PCR test and 90 percent of the passengers will have to undergo Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and if in RAT anyone is tested positive then they will have to undergo a RT-PCR test,” read the letter.
It can be recalled that earlier this day Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee before leaving Gangasagar said that she will hold review meetings before taking any decision.
“The centre should also stop flights from the UK as it is at high risk. We will be monitoring and will hold a few review meetings to decide on the future course of action. The Gangasagar Mela will be held in keeping with the pandemic protocols. Though Omicron is on the rise, it is not fatal,” said Mamata.
District Magistrate of South 24 Parganas, Ulganathan said that 100 percent people of South 24 Parganas have been given the first dose of the vaccine and ahead of the fair everyone will receive the second dose as well.
“We have been setting up kiosks to administer everyone with the second dose and soon everyone in South 24 Parganas will be doubly vaccinated,” Ulganathan mentioned.
Meanwhile, Union Health Secretary Lav Agarwal said that in the state the rate of Covid active people is almost 12 percent in Kolkata and had also sent a letter to the state asking the state government to take stringent action to curb the rising positivity rate.
