Centre to review decision on restarting international flights

New Delhi: The Union government on Sunday decided to review the decision on resuming scheduled commercial international passenger services as well SOP on testing and surveillance of incoming passengers, especially from countries identified as 'at risk', in the wake of the emergence of the new Covid-19 variant of concern 'Omicron'.

The decisions were taken at an urgent meeting chaired by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and attended by various stakeholders, an official spokesperson said.

The meeting was held a day after a high-level review by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the new Covid-19 variant of concern 'Omicron'.

The spokesperson said the overall global situation in the wake of the Omicron virus was comprehensively reviewed and various preventive measures in place and to be further strengthened were discussed.

The government will review the decision on the effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services as per evolving global scenario, the spokesperson said.

The government has also decided that the genomic surveillance for variants will be further strengthened and intensified and Airport Health Officials (APHOs) and Port Health Officials (PHOs) will be sensitised for strict supervision of testing protocol at airports and seaports.