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Rescue flight from Covid-ravaged India blocked by UK
Airbus jet specially chartered to bring 350 people to Britain before quarantine deadline was refused entry just as it was set to take off
23 April 2021 • 6:52pm
Burning funeral pyres of people, who died due to the coronavirus disease, at a crematorium ground in New Delhi
Credit: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters
A “rescue” flight from Covid-ravaged India with 350 passengers on board was blocked by the UK Government as it tried to reach Britain before a travel ban took effect.
The A330 Airbus jet had been specially chartered to bring the 350 people from Delhi before 4am on Friday after which they would have had to quarantine for 10 days in Government-approved hotels at a cost of £1,750 per person.
Heathrow refuses to allow extra flights from India because of border queues as passengers scramble to Britain before nation is added to red list at 4am tomorrow amid new variant surge
Heathrow Airport is refusing requests for extra flights from India before country is added to Covid red list
The Asian nation reported a record 315,000 cases as the troublesome variant sweeps the subcontinent
Heathrow told BBC it turned down requests because of concerns about long queues at passport control
Maximum of 20 of the 40 passport control desks at Terminal 2 are being manned because of social distancing
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UK residents in India are paying for private charter flights in a desperate bid to get home before a travel ban is imposed from the subcontinent to Britain.
From 4am London time on Friday, returning British citizens will have to pay to quarantine for 10 days in a government-approved hotel, while others will be refused entry.
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Concerns are rising that the variant first identified in India could be behind a devastating wave of new infections in the subcontinent.
Some scientists said the British government was too slow to act after the first case in the UK was identified on February 22.
India placed on UK s travel red list sparking scramble to beat travel deadline
Price of economy flight surges five-fold to £2,000 due to ticket shortages, as families race to avoid hotel quarantine before Friday
19 April 2021 • 6:21pm
India was placed on the UK’s travel “red list” on Monday, sparking a desperate scramble by families to beat the Friday 4am deadline to return and avoid hotel quarantine.
The standard £400 price for an economy flight from India to the UK skyrocketed to £2,000 due to shortages of tickets on nearly fully booked planes, according to travel agents handling the surge in demand.
More than 1,500 people a day are expected to arrive back in the UK before Friday after Matt Hancock announced the red list ban amid concerns over a spike in coronavirus cases in India and emergence of a new double mutant variant.