The rapid spread of COVID-19 across the globe has thrown movement of lakhs of travelers off gear. This has not only impacted pleasure trips of tourists but also business travel resulting in monetary losses worth millions.
In wake of numerous advisories against travel, the travel industry, particularly the aviation sector, has also get badly impacted. Not only traffic on their once popular routes have plummeted but several have to cancel flights to destinations in China and few other South and East Asian countries to prevent becoming carrier of the contagious virus.
According to MakeMyTrip flight bookings for Southeast Asian countries have been significantly impacted but sectors in But US and Europe are only seeing a marginal dip.
More than 95,000 people in 86 countries have been infected with the virus and more than 3,200 people have died. In India so far 31 persons have tested positive for the virus.
So the situation across the globe remains grim with only positives coming from China where fresh infections of COVID-19 has reduced. But does that make travel safer? And what if you still need to travel...are there enough flights available or whether the ticket you procured protects against any unforeseen cancellations?
Here is the situation as it exists :
International flights by domestic carriers:
*Air India and Indigo that run long haul flights have cancelled their flights to Hong Kong and Shanghai and the restrictions may well run into June
*SpicejJet has cancelled Delhi Hong Kong flights till March 28
*Vistara Airlines has cancelled around 54 flights to and from Bangkok and Singapore.
*GoAir suspends flight operations to Dammam, Saudi Arabia after an advisory issued by the Saudi government to not allow non-Saudi residents to enter. It has also suspended flights to Thailand
International flights by global airlines:
*Almost all major airlines operating out of India have suspended flights to China, Korea, Iran, Italy and some to Japan.
*European and American connections provide by airlines such as Lufthansa, KLM, United Airlines from India continues
*JAL is still operating its service to Japan from India
*United, Air Canada, JetBlue, Alaska, American Airlines, Delta, Brutus Airways have suspended flights to China and reduced operations in countries with high Coronavirus infections such as Italy
Domestic airlines:
There have been no restrictions on domestic travel, so far.
What advisories have been issued by authorities that can affect your travel plan :
*From March 9 midnight all air travellers having visited or arriving from Italy and South Korea will require to submit a certificate of having tested nagative from health authorities -designated lab in their countries for Coronavirus at the departure.
*India has also suspended most visas issued to nationals of Japan, South Korea, Italy, Iran and China, as well as suspending visas of any travellers who had been to those five countries since February.
*It has now been decided that all incoming international passengers must declare their travel history to health and immigrations officials at India's airports.
*Arrivals from DGCA list of 12 countries undergo thermal screening, passengers with high temperature taken to quantantine
*Screening to be carried out at 21 airports across the country
*Regular (sticker) visa/e-visa granted to nationals of People's Republic of China, issued on or before February 5, 2020 were suspended earlier. It shall remain in force.
*Those needing to travel to India under compelling circumstances may apply for fresh visa to the nearest Indian Embassy/Consulate," the advisory said.
*An advisory had also directed passengers arriving directly or indirectly from China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Italy, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan to undergo medical screening at the port of entry
Travel Insurance :
*All Indian carriers are offering full refund or bookings to alternate destinations for flights that were booked earlier but are getting cancelled due Coronavirus scare.
*GoAir stated that people have the option of availing a full refund or utilising the booking amount for any future travel with the airline.
*In a travel advisory, Emirates has stated that those wishing to travel to Saudi Arabia will have to contact the Emirates office or their travel agent for refunds.
*Others travellers having expensive insurance cover may get full refunds by the insurance companies if they have included everything under coverage.
*But a larger number of insurers do not provide travel insurance against any pandemics outright. Moreover, any travel plan made now may not get covered for can cancellations due to Coronavirus.
Comments
Elite Indian nationalism defined: Every elite Indian can give his/her life for learning English if he/she needs to live in New York or London. But no elite Indian will sacrifice even a penny for learning Kannada if he/she needs to live in Bengaluru. Nationalism of jokers is always like that. (There are some rare exceptions to that, of course).
Look at how much useful English has been to India: India is one of the worst countries in education; the most starved country; suffers trade losses of more than 40 billion US dollars each year with China alone (I hope you know China doesn't teach in English); ranks 150th in per capita exports; administratively the most stupid one because administration is being carried out in language whish people don't understand; Also read this quotation from a worldwide study carried out by UNESCO, ‘What seems to be standing in our way is a set of myths about language and learning, and these myths must be revealed as such to open people’s eyes. One such myth is that the best way to learn a foreign language is to use it as a medium of instruction. (In fact, it is often more effective to learn additional languages as subjects of study.) Another is that to learn a foreign language you must start as early as possible. (Starting early might help learners to have a nice accent, but otherwise, the advantage goes to learners who have a well developed first language.) A third is that the home language gets in the way of learning a foreign language. (Building a strong foundation in the first language results in a better learning of additional languages.) Clearly, these myths are more false than true, yet they guide the way policymakers tend to think about how speakers of other languages must learn dominant or official languages.’ I will like to discuss with you further Mr. BigZero. If you agree, mail me at [email protected]
Can anything be more anti-national and educationally more stupid than what these 'Crazy' Board of Secondary Education people are saying? Kindly give your arguments if your answer is in Yes. Today itself, I stated in my TV interview that I don't find any education Board educationally as illiterate as the Indian 'Crazy' Board of Secondary Education. This is one more evidence of their illiteracy. I have mailed to the CBSE sataraps about their illiteracy on educational matters. But they never replied.
ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಮಾತೃ ಭಾಷೆಯನ್ನು ಉಳಿಸುವತ್ತ ಸರ್ಕಾರದ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆ. ಸರ್ಕಾರಕ್ಕೆ ಅಭಿನಂದನೆಗಳು....
I find this interesting: "It is not a prestige not to learn Kannada...". Unfortunately,
many "elites" speak in other Languages - particularly in English - to show off.
There are problems with Kannadigaas too - we can't speak Kannada
without 80% English in it....
Court must be moved to knock out a ridiculous order. Language is correctly the choice of schools, parents and students. And students should not be burdened to learn languages that will have no use to them.
Karnataka govt. should close these schools if they refuse to comply.
When Hindi & English are mandatory and they did not make a hue and cry against these, what is their problem teaching Kannada in Karnataka?
UP-Bihar's Hindi language mandatory in Karnataka is OK, but not Kannada? What kind of nonsense is this?
@Ravi: Very correct and logical. Moreover, Karnataka and Kannada have been
taken for granted, by most of the people from outside.
People who don't want to learn Kannada in Karnataka and want to treat this place just as a safe haven for jobs, property and weather should leave the state. We have enough freeloaders here from all parts of the country resulting in the chaos in the city. Its time for the Govt. and Courts to tighten the strings.
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