Travelers walk through Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport amid outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in London, UK, 14 February 2021. REUTERS / Henry Nicholls // File Photo
The British Heathrow airport has refused to allow extra flights from India before the country is added to Britain’s ‘red list’ of places from which most travel is banned due to a large number of COVID-19 cases, the airport said. Said Wednesday.
The move by Britain comes after more than 100 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India were detected, Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Monday. read more
“We have made the difficult but necessary decision to add India to the Red List. This means that anyone who is not a British or Irish resident or a British citizen will not be able to enter the United Kingdom if they days were not in India, ‘Hancock told parliament.
The BBC had earlier reported that Heathrow Airport’s refusal to allow extra flights from India had added to the airport’s refusal of airline requests because it was concerned about queues at passport control.
The airport also told Reuters it did not want to aggravate the existing pressure at the border by letting more passengers fly in.
India now has a “storm” of coronavirus overwhelming its health system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a national speech on Tuesday, with the second most populous country in the world reporting 295,041 new coronavirus infections – the largest daily rise in any country has been reported – its hospitals are reaching breaking point. read more
India’s 2,023 deaths in one day were also the highest in the pandemic.
At least 24 COVID-19 patients in the West Indies died on Wednesday when the oxygen supply to their fans ran out, amid a nationwide shortage of gas and an increase in infections.
Health experts said that India was shocked when the virus was under control during the winter, which made big events such as weddings and festivals possible.
Modi himself is criticized for addressing packed political rallies for local elections and allowing a religious festival to continue where millions of people gather.
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