West Bengal bans all international direct flights to Kolkata from UK from January 3

The West Bengal state government has announced a ban on all international direct flights coming from the United Kingdom to Kolkata, starting from January 3. This move comes following a sudden rise in the number of COVID cases in the state.

As per the reports, the suspension order will remain in place until further orders. The state government also issued an order, stating that all international passengers will be required to undergo a mandatory COVID-19 test on arrival at the airport. While all those arriving from ‘at risk’ countries are already required to take the said test on arrival at other Indian airports, even those arriving from not ‘at risk’ countries will be required to mandatorily undergo a test on arrival at their cost at the Kolkata airport.
Further, airlines will be randomly selecting 10% t of the passengers for RT-PCR test, while the other 90% will be required to undergo Rapid Antigen Test at the arrival airport, which is as per the new directive issued by the government for international passengers.

Reports have it that the COVID-19 situation in West Bengal worsened suddenly, while Kolkata has emerged as one of the districts of concern. Reportedly, Kolkata reported 540 new COVID cases on Wednesday, while the state reported 1089 cases in total.
West Bengal Chief MInister Mamata Banerjee also added that most Omicron cases are being detected among those who are arriving on flights from the United Kingdom. She stated that the Centre must decide on imposing restrictions on flights from countries where Omicron cases are high.