Indian airspace only being used by international flights which are passing through amid lockdown

The Indian airspace is currently being used only by the international flights which are passing through as the government has cancelled all international and domestic flights in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.

The government on Monday said that operations of domestic flights have been cancelled from midnight of March 24. "The operations of domestic scheduled commercial airlines shall cease with effect from midnight on March 24," the government said.

However, the restrictions will not apply to cargo flights.

Earlier, the central government has banned the operations of international commercial passenger flights in India from March 22 to March 29.

The circular was issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday.

"No scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft shall take off from any foreign airport to land in India, from March 22, 2020 (05:30 hrs IST). These instructions shall remain in force till March 29, 2020," read the circular.

In his address to the nation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.

According to ICMR, India has reported about 536 positive cases of COVID-19 and 10 deaths till date.