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Coronavirus scare: Air India advises staff flying to South East Asia to wear N95 masks
Amid the rising cases of coronavirus infected people in China, Air India on Wednesday (January 29) advised all cockpit and cabin crew who travel to South East Asian cities to wear N95 masks.
Amid the rising cases of coronavirus infected people in China, Air India on Wednesday (January 29) advised all cockpit and cabin crew who travel to South East Asian cities to wear N95 masks in order to remain safe.
The coronavirus outbreak in China has forced IndiGo to suspend all Delhi-Chengdu flights from February 1 to February 20. "After carefully assessing the current Coronavirus situation in China, IndiGo is taking some safety measures for its customers, crew and staff. Due to China travel restrictions, we have seen a high number of cancellations from China on our Delhi-Chengdu route and vice-a-versa. Therefore, we are suspending our flights between Delhi and Chengdu from February 01, 2020 until February 20, 2020. We are also suspending our Bengaluru- Hong Kong flight effective February 01, 2020," IndiGo said in a statement.
The airline added that these measures are purely temporary and precautionary and IndiGo is aware that these measures will cause inconvenience to our customers. The airline said that it will refund the full amount to the impacted passengers.
"We are in close touch with the relevant Government authorities and we thank them and our partners in China for all the help and support that they have extended so far. For now, we will continue to operate our Kolkata - Guangzhou flight, which we are monitoring on a daily basis. And for our operating crew, we are ensuring that they return to India on the inbound flights without any layover in China," IndiGo said.
Meanwhile, the Research Councils under the Ministry of AYUSH, have issued an advisory suggesting preventive steps based on the Indian traditional medicine practices Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Unani.
As per the Ayurvedic Practices the steps that have been suggested for the Preventive Management--maintain personal hygiene, wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, drink Shadang Paniya (Musta, Parpat, Usheer, Chandan,Udeechya & Nagar) processed water (10 gm powder boiled in 1-litre water, until it reduces to half).
In a related development, China on Tuesday (January 28) approved Centre's request to fly Indians out of Wuhan City, which has been worst affected by the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Sources told Zee Media Air India plane will soon head to China soon to evacuate the Indians from Wuhan City and other parts of China.
On Monday (January 27), Air India had said that a Boeing 747 has been kept on standby for the evacuation of Indians from Wuhan and the aircraft is waiting for the Centre`s decision regarding the evacuation."Air India Boeing 747 is on standby for the evacuation of Indians from Wuhan (China) due to scare of Coronavirus. Carrier is waiting for the government the decision," an Air Indian official told ANI on Monday.