Ban on UK Flights Extended

Flights to and from the UK will remain suspended until the end of the current Iranian month (Jan. 19), due to the new Covid-19 strain that is spreading rapidly in that country, Abolqasem Jalali, the deputy head of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran, said. 
Initially enforced on Dec. 22, 2020, the suspensions were to last for a fortnight, Mehr News Agency reported.
Shahram Adamnejad, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development’s deputy for transportation affairs, says the measure was taken at the request of Health Ministry and the National Coronavirus Headquarters.
“The decision has been made to prevent the transmission of this new strain into the country and to protect our people’s health,” IRNA quoted Adamnejad as saying on Dec. 20.
Similar measures have been taken by some European Union member states to protect their citizens from contracting the new mutation of Covid-19, which is said to be 70% more transmissible.