NEW DELHI: India has decided to postpone the resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services in view of the emerging threat from the new Variant of Concern (VOC). The commercial international passenger services will not resume on December 15. The revised date will be notified later, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a statement on Wednesday.
"In view of the evolving global scenario with the emergence of new Variants of Concern, the situation is being watched closely in consultation with all stakeholders, and an appropriate decision indicating the effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services shall be notified in due course," the statement noted.
India had suspended international flights from 23 March last year following the pandemic. However, special international passenger flights have been operating since July last year reportedly under air bubble arrangements (operated with specific restrictions) formed with approximately 28 countries.
Even as experts warned against countries closing their borders and WHO making it clear that blanket travel bans will not help curb the spread of the new variant, Japan has reportedly halted new incoming flights over concerns about the variant of concern and France has decided to extend its suspension of flights from southern African countries until at least Saturday. Malaysia, Indonesia, and Hong Kong also have banned travellers from countries with a confirmed case of Omicron.
Meanwhile, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia confirmed the first cases of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant on Wednesday, taking the number of countries with confirmed cases of the variant of concern to 22.
The countries that have reported cases of Omicron so far are Botswana, the UK, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia.