Covid-19 Crisis: Kolkata Airport Bans Flights From 6 Cities Including Delhi And Mumbai From July 6-19

The decision comes days after West Bengal government urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to suspend flight services to the state from Covid-19 hotspots like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and other cities.

(File Photo/ AFP)

Kolkata: In the wake of significantly rising Coronavirus cases across the country, the Kolkata Airport on Saturday announced that it will not allow any flights from as many as six cities including - Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad from July 6 till July 19, 2020. "It is informed that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad from July 6 to July 19, or till further order whichever is earlier. Inconvenience caused is regretted," the Kolkata airport said in a tweet.

It is informed that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from Delhi,Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur,Chennai & Ahmedabad from 6th to 19th July 2020 or till further order whichever is earlier. Inconvenience caused is regretted.@AAI_Official @MoCA_GoI @ushapadhee1996 @HardeepSPuri @arvsingh01

— Kolkata Airport (@aaikolairport) July 4, 2020

"The temporary restriction on arriving flights to Kolkata airport from 6 cities viz Delhi, Mumbai,Pune,Chennai, Nagpur & Ahmedabad is on the request of state government to restrict movement from high prevalence cities of coronavirus cases in order to contain the spread of Covid-19," Kolkata airport said in another tweet. The decision comes days after West Bengal government urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to suspend flight services to the state from Covid-19 hotspots like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and other cities for two weeks from July 6. Domestic flights resumed operations across the country on May 25, nearly two months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown due to contain the spread of the deadly virus. In Kolkata, domestic flights restarted operations from May 28 as Central government started the Unlock procedure to help stranded people reach their homes. Scheduled international passenger flights are still suspended in India. Meanwhile, the number of Coronavirus cases in West Bengal crossed the 20,000-mark as the state reported its highest single-day spike of 669 new infections on Friday, according to a bulletin issued by the Health Department. The fresh cases pushed the virus count to 20,488 in the state. West Bengal also reported the highest number of fatalities on a single day at 18, raising the death toll to 717. There are 6,200 active COVID-19 cases in the state at present. Eight people died in Kolkata, while three fatalities each were reported from Howrah and North 24 Parganas, two from South 24 Parganas and one each from Hooghly and Malda. At 2,078, Kolkata has the highest number of active cases. There were 1,358 such cases in North 24 Parganas, 850 in Howrah, 562 in South 24 Parganas, 337 in Hooghly and 293 in Malda and 125 in Darjeeling.