Kolkata bars flights from six 'hotspot' cities from July 6 to 19 after CM writes to Centre

In a major move, Kolkata airport on Saturday, barred flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai & Ahmedabad to Kolkata. The airport authorities said that flights from these six cities have been banned from 6th to 19th July 2020 or till further orders. Recently, ICMR's serosurvey study conducted in Kolkata has found that over 14 per cent of Kolkata residents have developed COVID-19 antibodies, hinting at a rise to Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the city. 

West Bengal launches "COVID warrior club", here's all you need to know about it

Kolkata bars flights from 6 cities

CM Mamata writes to Centre to stop flights & trains from high-COVID cities to West Bengal

Bengal writes to Centre on flights

Earlier on Tuesday, West Bengal government urged the Centre to not schedule any flight from high 'prevalence' cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Pune to the state for two weeks. West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha wrote a letter to Civil Aviation Secretary P S Kharola and requested him to stop the movement of flights from eight cities to Kolkata or Bagdogra for two weeks starting July 6. Bengal has 20488 COVID-19 cases with 717 fatalities.

Moreover, the chief secretary made a request to the Union government to temporarily stop trains to West Bengal from places having high COVID-19 cases so that the spread of the virus can be stopped. This came after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Monday said that her government would urge the Centre to limit domestic flights to the state to just one day a week, as the number of infections would shoot up once people from outside started returning to West Bengal. Banerjee also extended the lockdown in the state till July 31 to curb the spread of Coronavirus.

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ICMR: 14% of Kolkata have anti-bodies

Recently ICMR has found that over 14 per cent of Kolkata residents have developed COVID-19 antibodies. According to senior doctors, the survey indicated that the transmission is high in the metropolis, which is far from developing herd immunity or antibodies to combat COVID-19. In neighbouring South 24-Parganas district, it is 2.5 per cent while it is 1 per cent in Alipurduar district, the survey said while less than 1 per cent of antibody positivity rates have been found in districts of Purba Medinipur, Bankura and Jhargram.

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