Senegal halts international flights amid virus threat

Senegal is to close its airspace from midnight on Friday until 17 April, the government has announced in statement.

It means no flights will operate to and from the country's biggest airport in the capital, Dakar, but domestic flights between Dakar and Ziginchor will still go head, as will cargo flights, medical evacuations and specially authorised flights.

So far 36 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Senegal. Two of those people have since been declared virus-free after treatment, while the other 34 remain in hospital.

"Today more than ever, [we have] no other choice but to opt for drastic measures which will be able to definitively halt this pandemic in our country all while preserving the health and wellbeing of the population," the tourism minister said in the statement.