Kuwait suspends all commercial flights with India over high COVID-19 cases

  • Date: 24-Apr-2021
  • Source: Arab News
  • Sector:Retail
  • Country:Kuwait
  • Who else needs to know?

Kuwait suspends all commercial flights with India over high COVID-19 cases

DUBAI: Kuwait has suspended all flights from India until further notice after the south Asian nation 'due to the current health condition in the republic,' state news agency KUNA reported.

The region's busiest international air hub, the UAE, earlier suspended flights to and from India from Sunday.

The decision stipulates a 'ban of entry to Indian nationals to the country, namely those coming from the Republic for at least 14 days, and until further notice,“ KUNA said.

India reported 346,786 coronavirus infections over the past day, bringing its caseload total past 16 million, behind only the United States.

"In view of the health situation, it has been decided to suspend direct commercial air links with India until further notice,“ the Kuwaiti government also tweeted late Friday.

Kuwait residents would only be allowed to return via third countries if they stopped over for at least 14 days. Expatriate workers make up some 70 percent of Kuwait's population and include hundreds of thousands of Indians.

As the clock ticked down to the shutdown of the air corridor between India and the UAE - one of the world's busiest - fares soared as Indians who could afford it scrambled to escape the COVID surge.

Price comparison websites showed one-way commercial