Govt imposes travel restrictions, insists on work from home to control COVID-19 spread

Amid rising cases of COVID-19, India on Thursday banned the landing of all international commercial passenger flights from March 22 to 29 while asking the Civil Aviation ministry and Railways to suspend all concessional travel on flights and trains, except for students, patients and disabled people.

No incoming scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft shall be allowed to disembark its passengers, foreigner or Indian, on Indian soil after 2000 HRS GMT of March 22, 2020.

The decisions were taken by a Group of Ministers comprising ministers of Health, Shipping, Civil Aviation, External Affairs and Home who reviewed the status of coronavirus cases and the steps taken by the government so far to prevent the spread of the contagion.

In continuation of the steps taken till now in the direction, the committee of secretaries chaired by Cabinet Secretary analysed the current situation and gave their recommendations to the GoM, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Aggarwal said.

The government had issued a detailed advisory on social distancing measures as a non-pharmaceutical intervention on March 16.

"Social distancing primarily implies avoiding/decreasing contact so as to stop or slow down the rate and extent of diseases transmission. This has been found to be a useful approach to decrease the morbidity and mortality due to the disease," he said.

The Health Ministry on Thursday also advised senior citizens and children below the age of 10 years to stay indoors in view of the spread of coronavirus, even as they assured the general public that there was no community transmission of the disease in the country so far.

The ministry said the fourth death reported from Punjab was that of an elderly person who had co-morbid conditions like diabetes and cardiac issues.

"In order to protect the most vulnerable of our population, all states shall issue instructions wherein all senior citizens above 65 except for public representatives/govt servants/medical professionals should be advised to remain at home and avoid gatherings except for medical reasons," Aggarwal said.

The ministry also said the department of pharmaceuticals and the ministry of consumer affairs have been asked to take necessary action against anyone charging exorbitant prices for masks, sanitizers and other health-related logistic materials.

Aggarwal further said N-95 masks are available in adequate quantities in the country.

In consultation with medical professionals, a detailed advisory shall be issued for all health establishments to avoid non-urgent hospitalisation and minimise elective surgeries.

"This is being done to avoid hospital-related infections to the vulnerable and prepare hospitals for meeting challenges posed by COVID-19," he said, adding, "We have sufficient expertise in the country as far as the management of the disease is concerned."