Heena Sharma Blog

Air India's 423-seater jumbo B747 plane will depart from Delhi airport at 12.30 pm on Friday to Beijing to evacuate Indian nationals who are in China as the neighbouring country deals with novel Coronavirus outbreak. "The B747 plane is all set to depart from Delhi at 12.30 pm. It came from Mumbai on Friday morning only," said a senior airline official. The government has reached out to over 600 Indians living in China's Hubei province, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, to ascertain their willingness to be brought back to India. The death toll in China's novel coronavirus outbreak on Friday climbed to 213 with the number of confirmed cases totalling to 9,692. Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 5,806 confirmed cases, including 204 deaths. Read More

British Airways has suspended all direct flights to and from mainland China after Britain warned against all but essential travel to the country due to the coronavirus outbreak. BA.com, the airline's website, shows no direct flights to China are available in January and February. "We apologise to customers for the inconvenience, but the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority," BA said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. "Customers due to travel to or from China in the coming days can find more information on BA.com." Britain on Tuesday advised against "all but essential" travel to mainland China due to the coronavirus outbreak. Read More