With many countries blocking air travel from the UK over a new strain of Covid-19 virus, 8 passengers arriving in India through two separate flights from London tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday.
While Inida announced a ban on flights from the UK, the same comes into effect from Wednesday, and will last until December 31. The government, in the meanwhile, has ordered that all passengers arriving from the UK will be tested on arrival at airports.
Six people who tested positive for the coronavirus arrived in India by an Air India flight with 266 passengers late on Monday. One of the six reportedly took a connecting flight to Chennai.
Two other passengers on a flight with 222 passengers from UK tested positive at Kolkata airport late on Sunday night.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the mutant strain of the virus has a 70% higher rate of transmission and may already be present in several countries, even though it was “unlikely that a couple of mutations” could affect the immune system’s response to an existing vaccine.