The coronavirus epidemic has claimed the lives of at least 2,118 people so far.
India's flag carrier airline, Air India, on Thursday suspended all flights to mainland China till June 20 in view of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak in the country. Earlier, the state-owned national carrier had suspended flights till March 28.
The coronavirus epidemic has claimed the lives of at least 2,118 people so far.
According to Zee Media sources, the decision by Air India to suspend all flights to China till June 20 was taken during a high-level meeting held on Wednesday evening. The Air India CMD is expected to make a formal announcement in this regard today. Earlier, Chinese envoy Sun Weidong had urged India to reconsider the steps taken by the country in the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak.
In a related development, the Indian Air Force's (IAF) largest plane, C-17 Globemaster's scheduled flight on Thursday to coronavirus affected city Wuhan in China to evacuate Indians stranded there was delayed due to technical reasons.
IAF's plane was to carry medical supplies to China and then evacuate the remaining Indians from Wuhan. The Indian mission informed the stuck citizens that due to technical reasons, the date of the flight is being changed. Two days ago, India had decided to send its C-17 military transport aircraft to Wuhan to evacuate more Indians. The C-17 Globemaster was also to deliver a consignment of medical supplies to China`s Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic.
Several Indians and Maldivians were evacuated from China’s Wuhan by Air India special flights earlier in February. All the passengers are being taken to quarantine centres set up by the Indian Army and ITBP.
The number of fatalities due to the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China has reached 2,118 as of the end of Wednesday, up by 114 from the previous day.
The central province of Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 108 new deaths, while in the provincial capital of Wuhan, 88 people died.
Mainland China had 394 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Wednesday, the National Health Commission said on Thursday, down from 1,749 cases a day earlier and the lowest since January 23. This brings the total accumulated number of confirmed cases in China to 74,576.
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