NEW DELHI): Aviation authorities have permitted the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Amsterdam-Delhi flight to land in India on Sunday after it was forced to return to the Dutch capital, a day earlier, as travellers from foreign countries are denied entry amid COVID-19.
In a bid to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus outbreak within the country, the Centre imposed a travel ban for passengers as well as denied entry for all international flights from almost every country across the world.
India has temporarily banned all passengers coming from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
In addition, countries being a part of the European Free Trade Association, including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), Turkey and the United Kingdom have been prohibited from entering India, neither from land, sea or air routes.
The above restrictions came into effect from 12:00 hrs GMT on March 18, 2020, and shall remain in effect till March 31, 2020.
The Indian government has also ordered all passengers arriving from the UAE, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait to remain under compulsory quarantine for a minimum period of 14 days from March 18.
So far 283 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported in India.