As the coronavirus is still keeping hold of travel measures worldwide, the USA and Great Britain are providing flights for their citizens` evacuation from India this week.
Restriction measures have been imposed on international passenger flights, both inbound and outbound, by the American and Indian governments, to hold the virus down.
The American authorities are organizing a few charter flights for the US nationals willing to repatriate from different regions of India.
The first aircraft to charter was assigned for the group flying from New Delhi to San Francisco, as reported by the US Embassy in the Indian capital.
The next two flights, meant to airlift the American citizens who stayed in the North and East of the country, are keeping the same route.
The other two ones were scheduled to depart from Mumbai to Atlanta - for those Americans in India who were living in or visiting the country`s southern and western regions.
For the passengers to reach the airports of departure and leave for home successfully the American Embassy and General Consulate, in New Delhi and Mumbai respectively, are providing for additional internal flights and transportation by bus.
Those leaving from New Delhi can reach the city`s airport from Amritsar, Dehradun, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Dharamshala. As for Mumbai`s airport - transportation is provided from such areas as Surat, Ahmedabad, Goa, Pune and Valsad.
Other charter aircraft might also be arranged for the American nationals in Indian southern cities to leave for Miami, with additional assistance from US Consulates General Hyderabad and Chennai.
The United Kingdom in its turn has provided 7 London-bound flights to evacuate British citizens from Mumbai, New Delhi and Goa.
The acting High Commissioner of India to the UK, Jan Thompson, underlined the necessity of these measures in his statement:
“We know how worrying the past few weeks have been for British nationals in India. I hope this announcement will bring relief, especially to those in greatest need.
Due to the large numbers of British travellers involved, the scale of this operation is huge. The UK Government continues to work hard with our Indian counterparts in New Delhi and London to arrange a safe journey back for as many people as possible.”
According to an advisory posted by the US Embassy in India, the American nationals should better take the currently proposed opportunity:
“We do not know if US government-organized flights returning to the US will continue after this week.”
From the Indian side there hasn`t been any repatriation plan suggested for India`s citizens who had to stay in the territory of Great Britain and the United States due to COVID-19 lockdown.
The virus pandemic data are so far counting more than 1.45 million people infected all over the world, with over 83,500 deaths confirmed.
The numbers for the United States are around 12900 deaths out of over 402,000 infected, for the UK - 7,097 out of 60,733. As for India - around 5270 cases, with 149 deaths, are confirmed.