The West Bengal government on Thursday announced suspension of all direct flights coming from the United Kingdom to Kolkata with effect from January 3, in view of the rising number of Omicron cases.

The suspension order will remain in effect until further orders, the State government said.

Further, flights, which are an at-risk country as notified by MOHFW, will not be allowed and any NOCs issued would stand withdrawn.

Test on arrival

The State further said all passengers coming from other non at-risk countries by international flights to the State will have to mandatorily undergo a test on arrival at their cost, from January 3. The airlines will randomly select 10 per cent of the passengers for RT-PCR test and remaining shall undergo Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) at the arrival airport. Those found positive in the RAT test will have to further undergo RT-PCR tests as may be required by the health authorities.

The passengers would have to mandatorily pre-book the test before boarding to reduce waiting time on arrival, which the airlines must ensure prior to allowing the boarding. Accordingly, airport authorities may be asked to augment the holding capacity of the arrival lounge on the international side and also increase the number of testing counters so as to reduce the waiting time for passengers at the airport.

West Bengal reported 2,128 new Covid cases on Thursday, and test positivity rate was at 5.47 per cent while the fatality rate was at 1.21 per cent.

Kolkata registered 1,090 of the 2,128 cases as the State’s tally rose to 16,35,034 on Thursday, according to the latest health bulletin.

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