Air India planning to extend flights cancellation to China beyond March 28: Sources

Air India is planning to extend the cancellation of flights to China beyond March 28 as the coronavirus epidemic continues to grow, sources told ANI on Thursday.

Early this month, Air India had suspended all its flights to China till March 28.

Coronavirus, which is highly infectious, first originated in the Wuhan city of China in December, last year, and since then has spread to several countries across the world, including India.

Following the outbreak of the deadly virus, China imposed quarantine and travel restrictions in Hubei province. Several airlines around the world canceled their flights to mainland China and Hong Kong to prevent the spread of the disease.

The Chinese province of Hubei has reported 108 deaths from novel coronavirus through Wednesday, including 88 in provincial capital Wuhan alone, bringing the death toll from the deadly outbreak in the province to 2,029, the local health authorities said. Outside of China, eight deaths have been reported across the world, including two in Iran on Wednesday.

As many as 2,112 deaths have been reported in mainland China, while the number of confirmed cases stands at 74,185, South China Morning Post reported.