Mumbai, June 15: The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday allowed Maharashtra to operate 100 flights daily. Earlier, Maharashtra was allowed only 50 flights, which included 25 arrivals and 25 departures, on a daily basis. The state had earlier opposed resumption of domestic flight services amidst the lockdown, citing rising cases of the coronavirus in the state.

Maharashtra continued to remain the worst-hit state in the country by COVID-19 with the coronavirus cases crossing 1 lakh-mark. The state witnessed a sharp spike of 3,390 cases in the past 24 hours along with  120 fatalities. The death toll due to coronavirus zoomed to 3,950 while the total number of Coronavirus cases rose to 1,07,958 cases so far. Domestic Flights in India Resumed on May 25 After Two-Months Hiatus Amid COVID-19 Lockdown. 

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On May 24, Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik had said that initially the state government will allow 25 takeoffs and 25 landings every day from the capital city. The Minister had added that this number will be increased gradually.

The resumption of services faced criticism from several political leaders.  Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had said in a tweet that it is extremely ill-advised to reopen airports in red zone. "Mere thermal scanning of passengers is inadequate without conducting swab tests. Impossible to have autos/cabs/buses ply in current circumstances. Adding positive passenger will add COVID-19 stress to red zone", he had tweeted.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 15, 2020 06:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).