India to suspend domestic flights, seeks to lock down coronavirus spread

The country banned international flights for a week on March 20, and many states in the country have either curtailed or suspended public transport as preventive measures against the disease.

To strengthen the nationwide lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus, India has banned air travel from Wednesday.  The prohibition will stay till midnight, March 31. The move is the latest in a round of steps, including banning bus and railway travel, the government has taken. 

This is the first time India has effected a total shutdown of air transport. The United States did it after the terror attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared corona virus a pandemic. The government used a clause in the Aircraft Act, 1934, to