Heathrow Airport in London, the UK’s largest and busiest airport, has declined requests from a minimum of 4 worldwide plane carriers to land eight additional flights from India on Thursday, forward of the coronavirus pandemic “red list” journey ban which comes into pressure from Friday. The airport stated the choice to decline requests for extra flights was taken to make sure that the prevailing pressures on the border usually are not “exacerbated”, leading to lengthy queues and crowds at passport management on arrival.
India’s addition to the journey “red list” was introduced within the House of Commons earlier this week amid 103 circumstances recorded within the UK of a brand new variant of coronavirus first detected in India. Health Secretary Matt Hancock instructed MPs that the choice had been made after learning the info and on a precautionary foundation. “That means that anyone who is not a UK or Irish resident or a British citizen cannot enter the UK if they have been in India in the previous 10 days. UK and Irish residents and British citizens who have been in India in the 10 days before their arrival will need to complete hotel quarantine for 10 days from the time of arrival, said Hancock.
It has since triggered considerable confusion and panic as hundreds of Indian students and other UK-based British Indians scramble for return flights ahead of the Friday deadline. London-based family-owned travel agency, Tickets to India, is among the agents who have been working round the clock to try and sort out charter flights to carry Indian-origin passengers back to the UK. “Hundreds of British nationals are nonetheless requesting seats however there may be little or no time to organize a second constitution earlier than Friday,” said the company, which was working on getting clearance for one Qatar Airways A350 to bring 300 passengers back before the cut-off time (4am local time) on Friday.
Four carriers had requested to operate an additional eight flights from India as travellers seek to fly before the new rule comes into effect. Currently, 30 flights a week are operating between the UK and India. The UK Civil Aviation Authority said it had received several applications for charter flight permits from India to the UK, but many have been declined or withdrawn as they did not meet the qualifying criteria.
“We are in a world well being pandemic individuals shouldn’t be travelling until completely vital,” a UK government spokesperson said. “Every important test helps keep away from the danger of importing harmful variants of coronavirus which may put our vaccine rollout in danger,” the spokesperson said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was forced to cancel his India visit due to the surging coronavirus cases in India, told a Downing Street briefing earlier this week that the so-called “Indian variant” is still a variant under investigation, not a “variant of concern” as Public Health England (PHE) and other authorities continue to investigate its transmissibility and any vaccine resistance. A briefing document drawn up by PHE officials shows that between March 25 and April 7, a total of 3,345 arrivals from India were registered in UK border travel data, being collected through compulsory passenger locator forms at the airport. Of the arrivals so far 161 or 4.8 per cent tested positive for COVID-19 after a PCR test.
The travel ban means that those with valid residency rights returning to the UK after the deadline on Friday face the additional financial burden of compulsory hotel quarantine and tests costs, estimated at around 2,000 pounds per person. The National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK (NISAU-UK), a representative group for Indian students in the UK, has been working on trying to seek some reprieve for Indian students from the additional and unforeseen financial burden.
“Significant concern is being raised about the fee of quarantine in addition to how the brand new restrictions affect pupil eligibility for the Graduate visa route for which they want to be within the nation by explicit dates, stated NISAU UK chair Sanam Arora. The Home Office had already prolonged the deadline interval for the bodily campus presence necessities for college students to have the opportunity to apply for the brand new Graduate or post-study work visa till June-end and an extra extension is reportedly being thought-about. Meanwhile, the federal government has indicated that college students with legitimate visas however but to acquire their biometric residence permits (BRPs) would qualify for entry, topic to all the extra quarantine guidelines.
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