Following travel ban imposed by Qatar on Indian nationals due to coronavirus scare, budget carrier IndiGo on Monday cancelled its flights to Doha.
The cancellation of IndiGo flights to Doha will remain effective till March 17.
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Informing about the cancellation, IndiGo on its Twitter handle said: “Due to temporary restriction to operate to Doha issued by the State of Qatar, as a preventive measure in view of Coronavirus, flights to/from Doha are impacted.”
The carrier also tweeted: “Flights to/from Doha are suspended till March 17, 2020.”
#DohaAlert: Flights to/from Doha are suspended till March 17, 2020. Please visit plan B link https://t.co/utMoqvFLDs to opt for a full refund. We will be monitoring the situation closely and will share further updates.
— IndiGo (@IndiGo6E) March 9, 2020
IndiGo will refund the passengers who have already booked and paid for tickets to and from Doha.
To know about the updates, IndiGo has requested the air passengers to visit its plan B link https://bit.ly/2GVplHb to opt for a full refund.
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It tweeted: “Please visit plan B link https://bit.ly/2GVplHb to opt for a full refund. We will be monitoring the situation closely and will share further updates.”
According to reports, in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, which has infected thousands of people, Qatar has temporarily banned entry of people coming from India and 13 other countries.
Apart from India, the temporary ban by Qatar will also be applicable to people coming from Iran, Iraq, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Pakistan, Philippines, Lebanon, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, and South Korea.
In a statement, IndiGo said, “We will be monitoring the situation closely and will share further updates once the ban is lifted.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday warned there was now a “very real” threat that the global outbreak of the new deadly coronavirus will become a pandemic, but stressed the virus could still be controlled.
“The threat of a pandemic has become very real,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters while stating that “it would be the first pandemic in history that can be controlled… we are not at the mercy of the virus”.
The number of cases of novel coronavirus worldwide has crossed 110,000 people in 100 countries and territories with more than 3,800 dead.