UK situation extremely serious, extend flight ban till Jan 31: Kejriwal

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday urged the Centre to extend the ban on flights between India and the UK till January 31 in view of the extremely serious Covid situation in that country.

The Centre has decided to lift the ban and start flights to and from the United Kingdom. "In view of the extremely serious situation in UK, I would urge central government to extend the ban till January 31," Kejriwal said on Twitter.

"With great difficulty, people have brought COVID situation under control. UK's COVID situation is very serious. Now, why lift the ban and expose our people to risk?" he asked.

India had suspended all passenger flights connecting the two countries from December 23 to January 7 as a new and more contagious variant of the Coronavirus emerged in the UK.

Nine residents of the national Capital have so far been found infected with the new Coronavirus variant.

So far, 66 people, including those who recently returned from the UK and their contacts, have tested positive for Coronavirus. Most of them have been kept in a separate isolation facility at the LNJP Hospital here.

Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said on Saturday flights from India to the UK will resume from January 6, while services from that country to here would resume from January 8 onwards.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has issued directions to the Airports Authority of India, health department and district officials for strict compliance with the guidelines on isolating and testing passengers from the UK, as issued by the Union Health ministry.

According to the ministry's SOP, all passengers coming from the UK between January 8 and January 30 would be subjected to self-paid COVID-19 tests on arrival.

Moreover, each passenger arriving from the UK would have to bring his or her COVID-19 negative report from a test done 72 hours prior to the journey, it added.