Ban on Flights: The Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government has extended the embargo on direct flights to Kolkata from six Indian cities–Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai, and Ahmedabad till August 31. Notably, the ban on flights from these COVID-hit cities came into force on July 6, later it was extended till July 31 and then to August 15.

 

Alapan Bandyopadhyay, the West Bengal Additional Chief Secretary (Home) informed P S Kharola, the Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation in a letter dated 10 August. “I am directed to inform you that that the suspension of flight from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur and Ahmedabad to Kolkata will continue till August 30, 2020,” the letter stated.

 

Earlier, Kolkata Airport had extended the temporary restriction on the arrival of flights to Kolkata Airport from six cities till August 15 in the view of the rising COVID-19 cases in the city. In view of the total lockdown in the wake of the pandemic, flight operations at Kolkata airport will remain suspended on August 20 and 21 and August 27 and 28 and 31. West Bengal on Monday witnessed the highest single-day discharge of 3,208 COVID-19 patients taking the number of recovered people to 70,328, while 2,905 new coronavirus infections were registered, the state health department said. The state’s Covid-19 tally has gone up to 98,459 while the active cases stood at 26,031, the bulletin said.

 

Mean-while, Health experts are alarmed by the surge in daily COVID-19 cases, expecting India to top the list of countries with the maximum number of infections.

“India is the third most affected by COVID-19 now, but with increased testing, it could emerge as the top country affected by the pandemic. While testing rates have increased by 240% since the beginning of July, COVID positive cases have increased by almost 325%,” said Himanshu Sikka, lead-health, IPE global, an international healthcare development consultancy. While 80% cases are from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra, the burden has shifted from the earlier COVID hotspots of Delhi and Mumbai.

 

Average daily cases have increased to 65,000 from 55,000-60,000 till last week, with the total count on Tuesday reaching 2,235,677, including more than 44,700 deaths.