Air India Express, on October 12, announced that Indians in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will no longer be needed to register with the Indian Embassy for traveling back to the nation. As part of the Air Bubble agreement between the two countries, the airline said that passengers traveling from UAE to India can book flights directly with Air India Express.
“As India and UAE are part of the Air Bubble agreement, registration of passengers is no longer required and the bookings may be done directly with Air India Express,” Air India Express wrote on Twitter.
#FlyWithIX : Registration with the Indian Embassy is no longer required for passengers traveling from the UAE to India!@IndembAbuDhabi pic.twitter.com/3tvwErO5jr
— Air India Express (@FlyWithIX) October 12, 2020
Last week, the Ministry of External Affairs had said that as many as 17.2 lakh Indians have been repatriated through different modes under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM).
“As of October 7, 17.2 lakh Indians have been repatriated through different modes under this VBM. The modes include, Air India, Air India-Express, Private and foreign carriers, chartered flights, naval ships and land-border crossing,” Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson of the External Affairs said at the weekly briefing.
He added, “Under Phase-VII of VBM — which is presently operational since October 1 — 873 international flights have been scheduled from 25 countries to be operated during the course of this month. These include flights from 14 different countries with which India has a bilateral air bubble arrangement.”
The VBM started in early May to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus-induced travel restrictions. The mission is currently in its seventh phase.
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Mean-while, With 66,732 new cases, the coronavirus tally in India has now risen to over 71 lakh. As many as 816 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the casualties to 1,09,150. Of the 71,20,539 infections, the recoveries stand at 61,49,536, while 8,61,853 cases are still active. With increasing recoveries, India has sustained its leading global position with the maximum recovered cases.
Laying out the sequence of distribution of COVID vaccines that are expected to be available in India, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said Sunday that the first priority will be for those facing occupational hazards from the virus and exposure risk, indicating that healthcare professionals at the frontline would be among the early recipients.
Globally, the infections topped 37.3 million. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to step up efforts to contain Covid-19 on Monday. South Korea eased social distancing requirements, and the governor of Jakarta relaxed restrictions in Indonesia’s capital.
