E-Paper
Bengal restricts flights from Mumbai, Delhi to thrice a week amid Covid spread
In a letter to the civil aviation ministry, Bengal additional chief secretary BP Gopalika said flights from Mumbai and Delhi will be allowed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from January 5.
Flights from Mumbai and Delhi will be allowed to land in West Bengal thrice a week in view of the current Covid-19 situation in the two places. The West Bengal government on Tuesday informed the ministry of civil aviation of its decision on the matter and said the rule will be applicable from January 5 (Wednesday).
In a letter to the ministry, Bengal additional chief secretary BP Gopalika said flights from Mumbai and Delhi will be allowed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from January 5. The situation will be reviewed depending on the pandemic situation in these states, it added.
The letter said that while the state government is extremely sensitive towards the inconvenience that may be caused to passengers, the restrictions are absolutely essential to contain the spread of the pandemic.
With more than a 14-fold rise in Covid cases in barely a few days, the Bengal government has reimposed several restrictions till January 15 by closing schools and colleges and limiting the workforce across offices. The restrictions on flights from Mumbai and Delhi had also been in place, but at the time it was allowed only on two days, which has now been increased to thrice a week.
West Bengal reported 9,073 new cases, 3,768 recoveries and 16 deaths in the last 24 hours. The active caseload touched 25,475.
Both Delhi and Maharashtra and its capital Mumbai have been registering a massive number of cases over the past few days, while also leading the chart of Omicron contributions.
Delhi logged 5,481 fresh Covid-19, the national capital’s highest since May 16, 2021, on Tuesday pushing the positivity rate to 8.37 per cent.
Mumbai reported 10,860 new COVID-19 cases, up 34.37 per cent from a day ago, and 2 deaths, taking infection tally to 8,18,462 and toll to 16,381.
