AKIPRESS.COM - The seventh phase of Vande Bharat mission(VBM) was operationalised on 1st October and 820 international flights have been scheduled from 19 countries under this phase during the course of this month, ANI reported.

India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson in a weekly briefing said 1.645 million Indians have been repatriated through different modes of the Vande Bharat Mission till September 30.

“To meet the continued demand, Phase 7 of VBM has been operationalised from 1st October. As of now, 820 international flights have been scheduled from 19 countries to be operated under this phase during the course of this month. These include mainly flights from among the 14 countries with which India has a bilateral ‘air bubble’ arrangement in place. These flights will reach 24 airports across India, repatriating an estimated 150000 Indians.

Indian government is also undertaking a further assessment of demand for repatriation of Indian nationals from other countries. Depending upon demand, flights will be scheduled from these additional stations in the coming days.

Close to14,000 Indian nationals from Kyrgyzstan, almost all of them are students studying medicine in different universities, have been repatriated to India during May-July period.

All scheduled commercial passenger flights were suspended in India on March 25 after the Indian government imposed a lockdown to contain further spread of COVID-19. Domestic flights in the country resumed operations from May 25 in a gradual manner.