Maharashtra imposed night curfew,India suspends UK flights

Maharashtra has imposed a night curfew - 11 PM to 6 AM till January 5 - for Mumbai and all municipal corporation areas, in view of the mutated stains of Coronavirus that has emerged in the United Kingdom and caused several nations, including India, to temporarily ban flights to and from that country. Passengers from European countries other than the UK, or any in the Middle East, will be sent to 14-day institutional quarantine, and others must adhere to a similar period of home quarantine, the state government said Monday evening, after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting to discuss the mutant virus strain.

The ban will start Wednesday and all inbound passengers from the UK before then will be administered RT-PCR tests on arrival. Those who test positive will be sent to institutional quarantine and the rest will be asked to home-isolate for seven days. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has assured people the government has the situation under control and there is no need to panic and the government is fully alert. The new strain has worried health experts at a time when several nations, including the UK and the United States, have cleared Covid vaccines to boost their fight amid pandemic. European Union experts believe existing vaccines against coronavirus are effective against the new strain.