Flight Bans For Eight Countries Extended To March 4

The government has extended pandemic flight bans for eight countries by two weeks and added Nepal to the list, prohibiting inbound flights from these places until March 4.

There have been no flights from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom and the United States since early January.

"In order to prevent imported cases from posing additional pressure on the healthcare system at this crucial juncture of curbing the local epidemic situation, the government will extend the place-specific flight suspension mechanism for two weeks," the government said in a statement.

It added that starting from Saturday, the ban will also cover Nepal because of many imported cases from the country.

The government said it understands that the flight bans are an extremely stringent measure, but this is necessary to quell the local epidemic situation quickly.

It said it will look at whether the bans should be lifted in due course, after considering the developments of the pandemic.