A day after the Civil Aviation Ministry announced the resumption of regular international flights from December 15, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked officials to review the decision in the wake of the detection of new Covid variant 'Omicron'.
Modi chaired a meeting of top government officials, including the Cabinet Secretary, the Health Secretary, and the head of India's Covid Task Force, in Delhi to review the situation in the country amid fears over the new Covid variant that has already spread to Botswana, Israel and Hong Kong since its detection in South Africa.
Read: What is this new COVID variant in South Africa?
After a long Covid-induced hiatus, India's Civil Aviation Ministry on Friday said that it would allow regular international passenger flights from December 15.
"The matter of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services, to and from India, has been examined in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Health, and it has been decided... may be resumed from December 15," as per the Ministry's order.
Read: Covid’s new variant: Bangladesh plans to ban flights with South Africa
The Indian government put curbs on all domestic and international flights in March last year in the wake of the Covid-induced lockdown. Though it allowed domestic flights from May 2020, restrictions prevailed on international flights till it allowed the entry of all foreigners except tourists in October that year.
However, restrictions on regular international flights to and from 14 countries, including the UK, France, Germany, China, Botswana and South Africa, will continue, according to government sources.