Coronavirus: Emirates airline flights from India to Dubai to remain suspended until May 14

The South Asian country continues to grapple with soaring Covid-19 cases

Workers carry biodegradable cardboard beds at a makeshift ward set up at Radha Soami Satsang Beas in south Delhi. Bloomberg

Health workers turn away an ambulance at the main entrance of Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital in India's capital New Delhi. Bloomberg

Harsh Vardhan, India's health minister, inspects a Covid-19 centre in the capital city of New Delhi. India is now the global coronavirus hotspot, setting daily new records for the world's highest number of cases. Bloomberg

People carry oxygen cylinders after refilling them at a factory amid a surge in coronavirus cases in India's western city of Ahmedabad. Reuters

Workers prepare beds at a makeshift Covid-19 ward set up at Radha Soami Satsang Beas in south Delhi. Bloomberg

A man suffering from shortness of breath receives free oxygen inside his car at a gurudwara, Sikh temple, amid the spread of coronavirus, in northern Indian city of Ghaziabad. Reuters

A board indicates unavailability of beds at Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital in India's capital New Delhi. Bloomberg

Relatives offer prayers before they bury the body of a Covid-19 victim in Guwahati, the capital of north-east Indian state Assam. AP Photo

A sign indicates unavailability of oxygen at the Covid-19 care centre set up at the Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex in New Delhi. Bloomberg

A patient wearing an oxygen mask looks on as his wife holds a battery-operated fan as they wait inside an auto-rickshaw to enter a Covid-19 hospital, in western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Reuters

A man rides a bicycle through a deserted market area in the northern Indian city of Amritsar amid the lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19. AFP

Health workers outside a Covid-19 ward set up at the Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex in New Delhi. Bloomberg

Patients inside a Covid-19 ward set up at the Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex in New Delhi. Bloomberg

Emirates airline flights from India to Dubai will remain suspended until May 14, the carrier has confirmed.

The UAE brought in a ban on air travel from India at midnight on April 24, because of soaring numbers of new Covid-19 cases in India.

The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said the decision would be reviewed after 10 days.

Emirati citizens, diplomatic missions between the two countries, official delegations, business delegations and golden visa holders are exempt from the restrictions.

On its website, Emirates since said it would not run passenger flights from India until May 14.

One-way flights to the country continue to run.

“Emirates has suspended passengers flights from India effective 24 April 2021 until 14 May 2021,” the airline said on its website.

“Furthermore, passengers who have transited through India in the last 14 days will not be accepted to travel from any other point to the UAE,” it said.

There are no flights available from India to Dubai on Flydubai until May 15, either, according to the airline's website.

The UAE-India airline corridor is one of the busiest in the world.

UK-based aviation data firm OAG calculated airlines flew almost 1.2 million seats between the two countries in March, making it the second-largest market in the world after Mexico-US.

About 300 flights a week were operating between the UAE and India before the ban was announced.

That made it the largest of the 27 air bubble arrangements India had in place, said India’s Ambassador to the UAE, Pavan Kapoor.

Health services in India have been overwhelmed by a devastating second wave of cases.

India reported 379,257 new Covid cases and 3,645 new deaths on Thursday.

That made it the deadliest day so far for any country hit by the pandemic.

The country has confirmed 18.7 million infections and more than 208,000 deaths, although the toll is believed to be far greater.

New Delhi is reporting one death from Covid-19 every four minutes and ambulances are taking the bodies of Covid-19 patients to makeshift crematoria in parks and car parks, where they are incinerated on rows of funeral pyres.

The surge is believed to have been fuelled by complacency and a new variant of the virus that doctors say is spreading faster than previous strains.

India's battle with Covid-19: in pictures