Air passengers arriving at Delhi airport from the UK will be sent to seven days of institutional quarantine even if they test negative for the coronavirus, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Friday as flights from Britain resumed after a two-week ban.

"To protect Delhiites from exposure to the virus from UK, Delhi government takes important decisions. All those arriving from UK, who test positive will be isolated in an isolation facility. Negative ones will be taken to a quarantine facility for seven days followed by 7 days home quarantine," Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.

An Air India flight from the UK landed in Delhi this morning with close to 250 passengers. The government had suspended services between the two countries on December 23 over the new and more contagious strain of the virus. Other countries such as France, Spain and Germany have extended the ban.

The number of people who have tested positive for the new UK variant has gone up to 82 in India.
The Delhi Chief Minister had earlier urged the Centre to extend the flights ban till January 31 because of the "extremely serious" Covid-19 situation in the UK, which went into a full lockdown this week..