Coronavirus updates: India bans all international flights from March 22

The number of COVID-19 cases has risen in the country. Until now the total number of coronavirus cases in India has risen to 173. Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing the nation today at 8 pm about the ongoing efforts to battle the coronavirus pandemic.

Today, the statement from Press Information Bureau has been announced that says no international commercial flight will be allowed to land in India starting March 22 for one week i.e. March 29.

Similarly, the statement also says that all citizens above 65 except for public representatives/government servants/medical professionals have been advised to remain at home due to the ongoing situation.

All children below the age of 10 have been urged to stay at home and not to venture around.

The state has also been asked to enforce work from home for the private sector, except for those in emergency and essential services.

Railways and civil aviation have been asked to suspend all concessional travel except for students, patients and persons with disabilities.

It is also said to decrease huge gatherings, all group B and C section of central government employees will be asked to attend offices on alternate weeks, and there will be “staggered timings” for all employees.

Further measures to check spread of #CoronavirusOutbreak
announced a shortwhile ago#coronavirusindia #COVID2019india #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/o46GPHPbHL

— K.S. Dhatwalia (@DG_PIB) March 19, 2020

Recently, during a press conference, the Director-General of Indian Council of Medical Research has informed that India is currently at stage 2 of the coronavirus outbreak. This means that at present the pandemic in India is contained in the local transmission. We have not reached stage 3 as yet.

The central and state governments over the last few days have shut down schools, colleges, malls, and cinemas, closed most border check-posts, quarantined international air passengers, and issued advisories asking people to practice social distancing, to slow down the spread of the disease.

At present, the cases in India include 25 foreign nationals- 17 from Italy, 3 from the Philippines, 2 from the UK, 1 from Canada, Indonesia, and Singapore. This also includes 4 deaths reported from Punjab, Delhi, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.