New Delhi: In view of rising cases related to COVID-19 pandemic, no scheduled international commercial passenger flights will be allowed to land in India from March 22 for one week.
"State governments shall issue appropriate directions so that all citizens above 65 except for public representatives/govt. services/ medical professionals are advised to remain at home," the new government advisory read.
Besides, in the wake of growing concern over the COVID-19, all children below 10 are also advised to stay home and not venture out.
Meanwhile, Luv Agarwal, joint secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare gas said that India is still safe and there is no community transmission as of now.
"There is no community transmission of Covid 19 reported in the country. At this point of time, we need the support of the entire community and especially the youth to fight Covid 19," said Agarwal to the reporters.
He said that central and state government are working together. "All the states have also been asked to get ready to face all kind situation," said Agarwal.
He said that an Air India flight (Dreamline 787) will start for Rome on Sunday to evacuate more than 200 Indians mainly students stranded there.
Similarly, railways and civil aviation is expected to suspend all travel except for students, patients and divyang category.
COVID-19 cases in India climbed to 169 on Thursday after fresh cases were reported, including from Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh, while most of the states and UT's imposed restrictions, inching towards partial shutdown in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus, which has claimed four lives in the country.
Read: COVID-19: Chidambaram wants PM to put India under complete lockdown
As the virus continued to spread its tentacles across India, several parts, including Kashmir valley headed towards a virtual lockdown with the administration restricting movement of people in several parts and banning all public transport in Srinagar city.
The advisory also requests states to enforce work from home for private sector employees except those working in emergency and essential services.
On Thursday, PM Narendra Modi asked the world’s second-most populous country of more than 1.3 billion people to follow a self-imposed public curfew on Sunday. This unprecedented measure shows the urgency in a developing country like India, which is ill-prepared to contain a mass global pandemic with its limited resources.
“My countrymen, today I have come to ask for your time for a few weeks,” said the Prime Minister Modi, while expressing his concerns that a perception has gained currency among the people that nothing will happen to them due to this extremely infectious and deadly virus that has killed closed to 8,000 people across the globe and the number of confirmed cases has also gone up to over 2 lakh people.
