West Bengal extends ban on flights from 6 cities to Kolkata airport till July end

Amid rising cases of Coronavirus infections, the West Bengal government has decided to extend a temporary restriction on arriving flights to Kolkata Airport from six cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur, and Ahmedabad — up to July 31. Mamata Banerjee-led state government earlier imposed a restriction on domestic flights from July 6 to 19.

In June, state chief secretary Rajiva Sinha wrote to the civil aviation secretary, PS Kharola, urging him to stop domestic flights from high prevalence places to Kolkata. "West Bengal is witnessing a steep rise in cases... Accordingly, I request you not to schedule any flight to Kolkata or Bagdogra from high prevalence places viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai, Indore, Ahmedabad, and Surat for two weeks from July," Sinha said.

Bengal has allowed domestic flights in Kolkata from May 29, soon after nationwide services were resumed. The government has mandated that all passengers must submit a self-declaration form stating that they had not tested positive for COVID-19 in the past two months.

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Coronavirus outbreak

The West Bengal government has added 35 more areas to the list of 'broad-based' containment zones in the state, increasing the count to 676, amid the strict lockdown clamped in all such places to stem the spread of COVID-19, a senior official said on Friday.

The number of such zones in Kolkata, however, has reduced from 28 to 24, although the metropolis continues to record maximum COVID-19 cases in the state every day, he said.

With 1,894 people getting diagnosed for COVID-19, West Bengal reported its biggest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases on Friday. The total number of active coronavirus cases in the state stood at 14,709 while 22,253  patients have been discharged after recovery, the state health bulletin said. With 26 deaths in the last 24 hours, the death toll from the COVID-19 infection zoomed to 1,049. The recovery rate in the state stands at 58.54%.

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