Kolkata: Airport authorities on Saturday said that flights from six cities- Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad will not land in Kolkata for two weeks from Monday onwards. The West Bengal government stepped up measures to contain Covid-19.

On the request of West Bengal government on June 30, the civil aviation ministry agreed to suspend the flights. The Bengal government had written to the secretary of the Civil Aviation Ministry to also stop flights from Indore and Surat. It wanted flights to two other airports in the state Andal and Bagdogra paused as well.

“West Bengal is also witnessing a steep rise in cases. A large number of cases have been reported from people coming in the State from outside with infection. Government of West Bengal has decided to stop or curtail movement of incoming flights and trains into the State.”

The state also wanted flights from other cities in the country reduced to one flight a week per airline. The Civil Aviation Ministry has not responded to that request yet. India resumed domestic passenger flights from May 25, after a gap of two months following the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. Scheduled international passenger flights are still suspended in India.

West Bengal has recorded 20,488 Covid- 19 cases including 717 deaths, with the maximum numbers are from Kolkata, adjoining Howrah and the district of North 24 Parganas, according to the Union Health Ministry sources. Earlier, several states including Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had imposed restrictions on people coming from Maharashtra or other states where the infection rate was high.