India / Ban on flights to Kolkata from 6 cities extended till August 31

West Bengal government has extended the embargo on direct flights to Kolkata from six "high COVID-19 prevalence" Indian cities till August 31. The six Indian cities are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad. The ban on flights from these COVID-hit cities came into force on July 6, later it was extended till July 31 and then to August 15.

Livemint : Aug 11, 2020, 12:14 PM
Kolkata: Suspension of flights to Kolkata from high Covid-19 prevalence cities has been extended till August end. West Bengal government has said that the suspension of flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur and Ahmedabad will continue till 31st August.

Alapan Bandyopadhyay, the West Bengal Additional Chief Secretary (Home) informed P S Kharola, the Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation in a letter dated 10 August.

"I am directed to inform you that that the suspension of flight from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur and Ahmedabad to Kolkata will continue till August 30, 2020," the letter stated.

Earlier, Kolkata Airport had extended the temporary restriction on the arrival of flights to Kolkata Airport from six cities till August 15 in the view of the rising COVID-19 cases in the city.

In view of the total lockdown in the wake of pandemic, flight operations at Kolkata airport will remain suspended on August 20 and 21 and August 27 and 28 and 31.

Meanwhile, West Bengal on Monday witnessed the highest single-day discharge of 3,208 COVID-19 patients taking the number of recovered people to 70,328, while 2,905 new coronavirus infections were registered, state health department said. The state's Covid-19 tally has gone up to 98,459 while the active cases stood at 26,031, the bulletin said.