The decisions were taken at an urgent meeting chaired by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and attended by various stakeholders, an official spokesperson said.
The meeting was held a day after a high-level review by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the new COVID-19 variant of concern 'Omicron'.
After a long hiatus of more than 20 months, the government had on November 26 announced the resumption of scheduled international commercial flights from December 15.
The home ministry spokesperson said at the meeting, chaired by the home secretary, the overall global situation in the wake of the Omicron virus was comprehensively reviewed and various preventive measures in place and to be further strengthened were discussed.
The government will review the decision on the effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services as per evolving global scenario, the spokesperson said.
The new, potentially more contagious B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) from South Africa on November 24 and has also been identified in Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel.
It was on Friday designated as a "Variant of Concern" by the WHO, which named it Omicron. A variant of concern is the WHO's top category of worrying COVID-19 variants.
"Government to review Standard Operating Procedure on testing and surveillance of incoming international passengers, especially for those countries identified 'at risk' category," the spokesperson said in a series of tweets.
The government has also decided that the genomic surveillance for variants will be further strengthened and intensified and Airport Health Officials (APHOs) and Port Health Officials (PHOs) will be sensitised for strict supervision of testing protocol at airports and seaports.
"Decision on effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passengers service, to be reviewed, as per evolving global scenario," the spokesperson said.
A closer watch on the emerging pandemic situation within the country will be maintained, the spokesperson said.
The meeting was held with various experts including V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to Prime Minister, senior officers from Health, Civil Aviation and other Ministries.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is yet to take a decision in the matter.
The last commercial flight between India and Afghanistan was operated by Air India on Kabul-Delhi route on August 15, the day Kabul fell to the Taliban. Afghanistan airspace was declared "uncontrolled" by the CAA on August 16.
In a letter dated September 7, 2021, CAA's Acting Minister Alhaj Hameedullah Akhunzada requested the DGCA to permit commercial flights of Ariana Afghan airline and Kam Air between India and Afghanistan.
Akhunzada stated in his letter: "As you are well informed that recently the Kabul airport was damaged and (left) dysfunctional by American troops before their withdrawal."
With the help of technical assistance by Qatar, the airport became operational once again and a NOTAM (notice to airmen) in this regard was issued on September 6, he noted.
"The intention of this letter is to keep the smooth passenger movement between two countries based on signed MoU and our national carriers (Ariana Afghan airline and Kam Air) aim to commence their scheduled flights," he said.
Therefore, Afghanistan CAA requests you to facilitate their commercial flights, Akhunzada noted.
"The civil aviation of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan avails its highest assurance," he added.
As a neighbour of Afghanistan, India is naturally concerned about the recent changes in that country and their implications for the region, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had said on September 20.
He demanded that Afghan territory should not be used for sheltering, training, planning or financing terrorist acts.
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu made the announcement through his twitter handle on Tuesday.
Earlier on January 25, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had informed that flight services from Jharsuguda airport to six cities including Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai, New Delhi and Raipur would commence soon.
Pradhan had also informed that airstrips at Jeypore, Utkela and Rourkela would be upgraded to airports soon.
On February 19, a high-level team of Alliance Air had visited Jharsuguda airport to inspect its infrastructure and facilities. The Alliance Air is likely to start flight services from Jharsuguda to Kolkata and Raipur from March 1.
Prior to that, a team of SpiceJet had also visited the airport on February 9. As per official sources, SpiceJet is likely start operations connecting Jharsuguda to three major routes- Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad from March 31.
In a circular issued by DGCA with regard to travel and visa restrictions related to Covid-19, Joint Director General mentioned that the suspension on scheduled international commercial passenger services to and from India has been extended till December 31, 2020.
"In partial modification of circular dated June 26, 2020, the competent authority has further extended the validity of circular regarding Scheduled International commercial passenger services to/from India till 11.59 pm of 31st December 2020," the order stated.
This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA. However, International Scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on case to case basis.
Suspension on scheduled international commercial passenger services to and from India extended till 31st December: Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) pic.twitter.com/SPT68cxkRX
— ANI (@ANI) November 26, 2020
The Union Home Ministry in its fresh guidelines issued on November 25 with regard to the surveillance, containment and caution in Covid times had allowed international air travel of passengers, as permitted by the MHA.
The DGCA had earlier suspended scheduled international passenger flights till November 30, 2020. The services have remained suspended in India ever since the lockdown was enforced in March. However, the operations of special international flights were allowed in May and flights under the bilateral 'air bubble' arrangements with selected countries have been operating since July.
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