Covid-19: Airlines cancel 3k flights worldwide as pilots, crew ‘infected’
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With pilots and crew ‘infected’ because of the coronavirus, airlines worldwide were forced to cancel over 3,000 flights, and delay many more, when millions of holidaying people were about to board them for a long weekend.
The media reported on Saturday that these airlines cited Covid-19 as the reason for the lack of staff, as several of them stayed away from work.
In the US, United Airlines confirmed that over 100 flights, scheduled for the Christmas eve customers, had been canceled as the company struggled with the spread of the Omicron variant.
Over 4,600 flights were delayed globally.
About 500 flights were delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Friday itself. Even Delta Airlines said on Thursday that they had canceled hundreds of Christmas eve flights.
Recently, the White House Chief Medical Adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said large gatherings this holiday season are not safe from the coronavirus, even for those fully vaccinated with a booster shot.
“Christmas travel would increase the spread of the variant even among the fully vaccinated,” he said.
The media reported that Francis Collins, the outgoing National Institutes of Health director, warned on Sunday last that the US could begin seeing 1 million Covid-19 infections per day if Americans failed to take coronavirus precautions.
But New Zealanders were luckier. While many countries re-imposed curbs to avert crowded Christmas gatherings, New Zealand’s people celebrated the festival on Saturday in the warmth of mid-summer with few restrictions. It is one of the few countries untouched by the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the media reported.
So far, 95 percent of New Zealanders have had at least one of the two doses of the coronavirus vaccine, making it one of the world’s most vaccinated populations. The only Omicron cases found in New Zealand were safely contained at the border.
By Christmas this year, New Zealand had recorded 50 deaths because of Covid-19 in a population of 5.5 million. But, unlike pre-Covid years, many New Zealanders living and working overseas could not return home for Christmas.
According to reports, most Pacific Island nations whose health systems might have been overwhelmed by Covid-19 outbreaks have largely managed to keep out the virus through strict border controls and high vaccination numbers.
Australia celebrated Christmas amid a surge of pandemic cases, worse than at any stage of the pandemic, which forced states to reinstate mask mandates and other preventative measures. The Omicron strain may represent over 70 percent of all fresh cases in Queensland.
In his Christmas message, Prime Minister Scott Morrison referenced Covid-19’s toll on society.
“This pandemic continues to buffet us…this Omicron variant is just the latest challenge that we have faced. But together, always together and only together, we keep pushing through,” he added.
