Coronavirus: India shuts international flights, domestic operations to continue

India on Sunday shut all international commercial flights for one week as it stepped up its fight against the COVID-19 outbreak.

However, the civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced that scheduled domestic operations will continue at the Delhi Airport.

Earlier it was reported that all domestic flights coming to Delhi will be suspended from Monday till March 31 as the number of COVID-19 cases had risen to 27 in the national capital.

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Last week, the Centre had decided to shut all international commercial flights for one week starting from March 22 in view of COVID-19 outbreak.The order will remain in effect till March 29.

“No scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft shall be allowed to land in India from March 22, 2020, for one week,” the DGCA had announced last week.

The DGCA had told international and domestic airlines that no passenger aircraft will take off from any airport outside the country for any airport in India after 5:30 a.m. IST on Sunday.

Also Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths

Flights that have taken off for India before 5:30 a.m. on Sunday have been granted 20 hours time to complete their journey. Such flights can land at Indian airports till 1:31 a.m. in the small hours of Monday.

However, from 1:32 a.m. onwards no international commercial aircraft will be allowed to disembark passengers in India.

International flights can resume from 5:30 a.m. IST on March 29, the DGCA said.

Thousands of Indian nationals have been returning to their homeland from across the world and have been put under quarantine – either at home or at a government facility for 14 days to ensure that they do not spread infection, if any.