(Image source from: newindianexpress.com)

With the fever of coronavirus pandemic calming down in the country, the Centre decided to resume the international flights from December 15th. But the new variant Omicron is making the entire world sleepless. With several countries imposing emergency, the Centre announced that they have changed the plans and the international flight services will not resume from December 15th. The Centre also issued a clarity that there is no clear date about when the international services will get resumed. Omicron has been named as the variant of concern and it is spread across various nations of the globe. The Civil Aviation Regulator issued a notification and it said that the details about the services will be notified in due course.

The decision came five days after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced about the resumption of the international passenger services. All these services have been suspended since March 23rd last year. As per the update, Omicron is spread across 23 countries of the globe and it includes 13 European countries apart from Saudi Arabia, USA, Australia and Canada. Four people from Netherlands and UK who arrived to New Delhi are tested positive for coronavirus. They samples are now sent to genome sequencing and the reports will clarify if they are carrying the new variant Omicron. All these four are Indian nationals and they are admitted in New Delhi's LNJP Hospitals in isolation wards. The Ministry of Civil Aviation asked the people not to panic and announced that only two percent of the passengers are coming from countries that are at risk.

By Siva Kumar