Mumbai is the third destination RwandAir suspends flights to after Guangzhou in China and Tel Aviv in Israël.

Flights to Guangzhou were suspended on January 31st, 2020 while flights to Tel Aviv were suspended on March 10th, 2020.

RwandAir administration announced that the airline will waive change of reservation costs, re-issues and refunds for all affected customers.

RwandAir decision to cancel flights to Guangzhou, Tel Aviv and Mumbai follows an announcement from the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11th, declaring Coronavirus (COVID-19) a pandemic.

Since December 2019, the number of new infections has increased by 13 times outside of China where the virus was first identified.

Currently, 4749 people died from the virus while the total number of COVID-19 patients reached 129,590. Among those 68,670 were treated and recovered from the virus.

Airlines across the world have implemented drastic measures to counter the spread of the virus through cancellation policies.

Israel Airlines suspended all flights from Israel while other airlines such as Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Wizz Air, American Airways, British Airways and Australia Airlines suspended flights to China and other COVID-19 endemic countries.

Today, the United States will start implementing travel restrictions on 26 European countries after President Trump issued a ban to combat the spread of the virus.

The UK, Ireland and other non-Schengen countries will not be affected.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the COVID-19 crisis is expected to bring a $113 billion loss to international airlines in the US if the virus continues to spread.

To counter the spread of the virus, many countries around the world including Rwanda, have implemented preventive measures.

Although no case of COVID-19 was identified in Rwanda, the government has set a multidisciplinary team to assess and strengthen preparedness and response to the epidemic.

At Kigali International Airport, all travellers are screened using thermal imaging cameras and tested before entering the country.

RwandAir, the carrier airline of Rwanda has suspended all flights to and from Mumbai