The Indian government had suspended flight services both to and from the UK on December 23.

Flights from the UK to India resumed partially on January 8 as an Air India flight landed with 256 passengers at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.

This happened amidst Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal declaring a mandatory 7- day institutional quarantine for all UK returnees who test negative at IGI Airport. The decision caused chaos and confusion at the airport, as it was unplanned and not intimated earlier to the passengers.

The Indian government had suspended flight services both to and from the UK on December 23 keeping in mind the new and fast-spreading strain of SARS-Cov-2, which is quite rampant in the UK.

But soon after, Union Civil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had announced that limited operations of flights will resume. Thirty flights will operate every week - 15 each by the Indian and the UK carriers. This will stand till January 23.

Following this, on January 6, the first Air India flight for the UK left Delhi's IGI Airport with 252 passengers. Another flight from Mumbai left for London on the same evening. Around 491 passengers have flown out of the country in these two flights.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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Flight operations between India and UK resume partially amidst strict quarantine rules; all you need to know

All passengers will be subjected to mandatory self-paid RT-PCR tests at the airport. Along with this, they also have to get the test done before boarding the flight from the UK.

The Indian government had suspended flight services both to and from the UK on December 23.

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