India hits back after PNG bans flights over COVID ‘deception’

India denies Papua New Guinea claims it allowed COVID-infected passengers to board a flight to Port Moresby.

The Indian embassy in Papua New Guinea (PNG) denies police claims that it helped unauthorised passengers, including four people who were infected with COVID-19, arrive in the Pacific nation’s capital, Port Moresby. The denial on Tuesday came after PNG Police Commissioner David Manning last week banned all flights from India, accusing the Indian government of “deliberately” participating in “deception” that compromised the island nation’s safety and security. The police chief, who is in charge of PNG’s COVID-19 response, also banned Indonesia’s Garuda Airlines and Hong Kong’s CapaJet, a charter company, from using the country’s airspace “until further notice”.