“As the virus is still spreading in India, we are thinking to permit domestic and international flight operations post April 14 in a staggered manner. Airlines are free to take bookings for any date post April 14,” a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official said.

“These are sensitive times and we are not looking in terms of revenue generation for now. The focus is on passenger safety and to ensure that the disease does not spread. Trains will run in due course, once the government gives us the green signal. However as of now, we have not taken any decision,” said a senior officer.

a PTI tally of figures reported by states directly showed at least 106 deaths, while the number of confirmed cases had reached 3,624. Of the total, 284 have been cured and discharged.

Asserting that there was no evidence that COVID-19 was airborne, an ICMR official said, “We need to understand that in science whoever does experiments some will have a ‘for opinion and some against’ but we need to take a balanced, evidence-based approach.

With US President Donald Trump describing hydroxychloroquine as a “game changer” in the fight against COVID-19 and several countries, including India, approving it for emergencies, pharmacies are reporting a surge in demand for the drug yet to be proven as a cure for the virus.