Further extending its ban, the country will now, not be allowing Indians from the UK, Turkey and Europe to travel back home. Indian passport holders will now have to cancel their bookings, if any, and wait to return to the country.
What’s More?
The aviation regulator, Directorate General Of Civil Aviation (DGCA), was reported as saying that, ‘Travel of passengers from member countries of the European Union, the European free trade association, Turkey and the United Kingdom to India is prohibited with effect from March 18, 2020. No airline shall board passengers from these nations to India with effect from 1200 GMT on March 18, 2020. The airline shall enforce this at the port of initial departure. Both these instructions are temporary measures and shall be in force till March 31, 2020, and will be reviewed subsequently.’
Furthermore, this ban is expected to affect flight operations in a massive way. Flights India will now have to be cancelled. In fact, even before this announcement was made, over 500 international flights have already been cancelled.
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The Count Till Now
According to news reports, coronavirus (Covid – 19) has affected over 1,70,000 people globally and is responsible for over 6,500 deaths. It has been declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO). In India the number of cases have crossed 100, but it is expected that the number will rise.
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Apart from Europe, which has now been declared as the centre of the epidemic, ‘the government has also expanded the compulsory quarantine for passenger coming from UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait with effect from 1200 GMT on March 18, 2020.’ This will be done for a period of 14 days.
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Last week, it was announced that there will be compulsory quarantine for passengers coming from seven countries that are China, Korea, Iran, Spain, France, Germany and Italy.