Bengal suspends direct flights from UK, At risk nations to Kolkata from Jan3

Because of a sudden rise in the number of COVID cases in the state, the West Bengal state government will ban all the international direct flights coming from the United Kingdom to Kolkata, from January 3.

The suspension order will remain in effect until further orders, the government said. Passengers coming from other non-at-risk countries by international flights to West Bengal will have to mandatorily undergo a test on arrival at their cost. The Covid-19 situation in West Bengal worsened suddenly with Kolkata emerging as one of the districts of concern. The airlines will randomly select 10% of the passengers for the RT-PCR test and the balance 90% shall undergo Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) at the arrival airport.

The West Bengal government also said that "flights from other at-risk countries will also not be allowed in the state and any NOC which has been issued stands withdrawn".

"Most Omicron cases are being detected among people coming from UK flights. It's a fact that the Omicron carriers are coming via international flights. The Centre must decide on imposing restrictions on flights from countries where Omicron cases are high," Mamta Banerjee said.

Passengers arriving from countries that are not classified as "at-risk" will be required to undergo a Covid-19 test at their own expense, according to the state administration.

The airlines will randomly pick 10% of passengers for an RT-PCR test, with the remaining 90% undergoing a quick antigen test at the arrival airport.