India extends international commercial flights ban until Feb. 28

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - India will keep its scheduled international flight passenger flights suspended until Feb. 28, civil aviation authorities said on Wednesday, as the country battles a fresh wave of COVID-19 cases.

The restriction will not apply to international cargo operations and flights approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and those under existing bubble agreements, said an official notification.

Last year in November, after India started to witness a decline in daily number of COVID-19 infections, authorities had said that international flight operations would resume from Dec. 15.

However, as the omicron variant triggered new waves globally, India decided to continue the international flight ban.

India is currently witnessing a huge number of daily coronavirus cases, which is believed to be driven by the omicron variant.

On Wednesday morning, the Health Ministry said 282,970 new infections were registered over the past day, pushing the total count to 37.9 million. The death toll stands at 487,202, with 441 new fatalities.

As of Wednesday, more than 1.58 billion vaccine doses have been administered in the country.

Indian Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday evening that over 50% of the population aged 15-18 age group have received their first vaccine dose.