On the request of West Bengal government, the Civil Aviation Ministry has banned flights from 6 COVID-19 hotspots across the country to Kolkata. Flights from Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Nagpur have been banned from flying to or from the capital city of West Bengal.
The Kolkata airport authority in a tweet on Saturday said that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai & Ahmedabad from 6th to 19th July 2020.
"It is informed that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai & Ahmedabad from 6th to 19th July 2020 or till further order whichever is earlier. Inconvenience caused is regretted."
Move to contain the spread of coronavirus
The decision comes amid West Bengal government's plans to ramp up the measure to contain the coronavirus in the state.
Past few days have seen a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus cases in Kolkata and neighbouring North 24 Parganas where for the third consecutive day, coronavirus cases crossed 600 marks.
Till Friday, July 3, the total number of coronavirus cases had risen to 20,488, according to the data provided by the West Bengal Department of Health & Family Welfare. Death toll too rose by 18 and reached 735 on July 3.
Flights banned from COVID 19 hotspots
It can be noted that out of 6 cities from where flights have been banned to Kolkata, three are in Maharashtra which has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country.
Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur in Maharashtra have become the hotspots of coronavirus cases as the state is battling to contain the virus from the spread. Just on Friday, Maharashtra recorded day's highest number of new cases with 6,364 new cases. Of these new cases, Mumbai alone reported over 1,300 cases.
On the national level, as of on Saturday, July 4, the total number of COVID 19 cases has reached 648,315, and over 18,655 people have died of the virus.
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