Amid alarm over the new highly contagious strain of the coronavirus the Indian Government on Wednesday extended the ban on flights to and from the UK till January 7. Earlier the government had banned the flights till 31 December. 

"Decision has been taken to extend the temporary suspension of flights to and from the UK till 7 January 2021. Thereafter strictly regulated resumption will take place for which details will be announced shortly," aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted.

According to the health ministry, 20 people who returned to India from Britain have tested positive for the new UK variant genome of SARS-CoV-2 so far.

The tally includes six people who were found positive for the new virus strain on Tuesday who has been kept in single room isolation at special health care facilities by state governments and their close contacts have also been quarantined.

"Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travelers, family contacts, and others. Genome sequencing on other specimens is going on. The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the states for enhanced surveillance, containment, testing," the ministry had said.