After UK and UAE, now Kuwait suspends commercial flights from India amid COVID-19 surge

CAIRO: In view of the rising COVID-19 cases in the country, the Government of Kuwait has now suspended commercial flights from India.

Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said in a tweet on Saturday that it had suspended all direct commercial flights coming from India, effective April 24 and until further notice, according to Reuters.

الطيران المدني : منع الرحلات التجارية المباشرة القادمة من الهند اعتبارا من السبت الموافق 2021/4/24 حتى اشعار آخر . pic.twitter.com/lJuhqo0ypS

— الطيران المدني (@Kuwait_DGCA) April 23, 2021

The move was on the instructions of health authorities after an evaluation of the global coronavirus status. All passengers arriving from India either directly or via another country will be banned from entering unless they have spent at least 14 days out of India, the statement said.

Kuwaiti citizens, their first-degree relatives and their domestic workers will be allowed to enter. Cargo is unaffected.

It may be noted that the governments of UAE and Canada have earlier announced to ban flights from Indian amid the worsening COVID-19 situation in the country.  According to reports, the UAE banned travel from India for 10 days from Sunday due to the worsening COVID-19 situation in the country.

The UAE travel ban came into effect from 11.59 PM on Saturday, April 24, and it will be subject to review after 10 days, the Gulf News reported. Passengers who have transited through India in the last 14 days are also not permitted to board from any other point to the UAE, the report said.

However, departure flights will continue to operate, it added. UAE citizens, diplomatic passport holders and official delegations are exempted from the above conditions, it said.

According to Khaleej Times, people are barred from booking flights from the UAE to Indian destinations after April 24 on the Emirates, Etihad, FlyDubai and Air Arabia websites.

The UAE is the latest country to impose a travel ban on passengers from India after it recorded the world's highest daily tally of 314,835 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, Canada also said that it would ban all flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days due to the growing wave of COVID-19 cases in that region.