SpiceJet to Temporarily Suspend Delhi-Hong Kong Flights

NEW DELHI:
Budget carrier SpiceJet said that it has decided to temporarily suspend its daily Delhi-Hong Kong passenger flight service due to the ongoing Coronavirus epidemic.

The airline will suspend its flight services from New Delhi to Hong Kong from February 16 to 29. In the wake of rising toll from Coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan and infections spreading fast both inside China and outside, many airlines have suspended their flights to and from the virus-hit country.

Earlier, Air India had suspended its flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong. It has temporarily stopped taking bookings for these flights.Another domestic carrier, IndiGo, has also suspended its flights to Chengdu and Guangzhou in China and Hong Kong.

The novel Coronavirus originated in Wuhan at the end of 2019. The overall death toll due to Coronavirus increased to 1,380 in China at the end of last Thursday, with 63,851 confirmed cases.

The new virus, which is of the same genre as SARS which broke out in 2003 has spread at a much faster pace, was first reported in the WHO Disease Outbreak news on January 5. It has progressively spread across many countries from its epicentre in Wuhan.

In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, Chinese authorities have closed transportation services across many parts of the country, including Wuhan.