The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has suspended all flights to and from India in wake of the increasing number of Covid-19 cases here. Besides India, air travel to and from Brazil and Argentina has also been suspended by Saudi Arabia .

However, it excluded “passengers who have official government invitations.

The GACA circular — titled: Suspension of travel to countries where the COVID-19 virus has outbreak’ — was marked to all the airlines and chartered flight companies operating at the Saudi Arabia’s airports.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE host a significant Indian migrant population.

Five days back, Air India Express had said the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) suspended its flights for 24 hours for bringing two passengers with COVID-positive certificates on August 28 and September 4.

Dubai is the most populous city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

India’s COVID-19 caseload has reached 56,46,010, and the death toll has climbed to 90,020 with 1,085 people succumbing to the disease in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry’s data updated at 8 am Wednesday showed.

After one-day suspension for bringing passengers with COVID-positive certificates, Air India Express resumed its Dubai flights on Saturday.

According to rules of the UAE government, every passenger travelling from India is required to bring an original COVID-negative certificate of an RT-PCR test done within 96 hours prior to the journey.