Kolkata airport bans all flights

Kolkata: In the wake of spike in the number of virus cases in the city, the Kolkata airport on Saturday said no flights from six cities shall operate to the capital of West Bengal from July 6-19.

Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad are the cities.

"It is informed that no flights shall operate to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai & Ahmedabad from July 6 to 19 or till further orders, whichever is earlier. Inconvenience caused is regretted," says a tweet from the Kolkata airport.

The decision was taken on the request of the West Bengal government in view of Covid-19, said the Kolkata Airport director.

Currently, the Kolkata airport is operating about 60-65 daily flights as compared to 220 flights in the pre-coronavirus time.The number of Covid-19 cases in West Bengal crossed the 20,000-mark as the state reported its highest single-day spike of 669 new infections on Friday, according to a bulletin issued by the Health Department. The fresh cases pushed the virus count to 20,488 in the state, it added.