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Flights from three more countries banned
New Delhi
New Delhi
India on Tuesday temporarily prohibited all flights from Afghanistan, Malaysia and the Philippines as part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a day after barring the entry of travellers from Turkey and 32 European countries.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has informed all airlines operating flights to India not to issue boarding passes to Indians who recently travelled to any Schengen states, according to an official privy to the development who didn’t wish to be named.
The US agency’s direction was issued on Tuesday and applicable with immediate effect. “Any Indian who has travelled to a Schengen country in the past 15 days will be denied a boarding pass by the airline,” the official said.
An advisory issued by the health ministry said travel from Afghanistan, Malaysia and the Philippines had been “prohibited with immediate effect”. It added: “No flight shall take off from these countries to India after 1500 hours Indian Standard Time (IST). The airline shall enforce this at the port of initial departure.”
The measure will remain in force till March 31 and be reviewed subsequently, the advisory said.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief Arun Kumar said, “All scheduled Indian and foreign airlines engaged in international air transportation to/from India...are directed to follow the advisory and not carry any passenger in violation thereof.”
In a similar move on Monday, India had barred the entry of travellers from the 27 members states of the European Union, the four states in European Free Trade Association, the UK and Turkey from Wednesday till March 31.
The health ministry also extended mandatory quarantine to passengers coming in from the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait, with effect from March 18.
Earlier, only passengers arriving from seven countries – China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, France, Spain and Germany – had to undergo mandatory quarantine.
The passengers who need to undergo quarantine are divided by the Airport Health Organization (APHO) into three categories on the basis of the severity of their symptoms.
