India's Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said the government is taking all precautions and keeping a close eye on the situation in Singapore, responding to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's tweet asking for suspension of all flights to and from that country.

"Kejriwal ji, all international flights have been suspended since March 2020. We also do not have an air bubble with Singapore," Puri wrote in his response.

Only some flights are operating under the Vande Bharat mission between the two countries to bring back the stranded Indians, he said.

"We are still monitoring the situation and all precautions are being taken," he added.

India stopped all scheduled international passenger flights on March 23, 2020, as Covid-19 pandemic gripped the world.

The government operated only special international passenger flights under the Vande Bharat Mission from May last year. In July 2020, India entered into air bubble agreements with around 27 nations to fly passengers to and from those countries.

Meanwhile, the number of domestic passengers dropped 26.8 per cent in April 2021 to around 57.25 lakh from 78.22 lakh in March, Indian aviation regulator DGCA said today.

The dip in domestic passengers has been attributed to the deadly second wave of coronavirus, which has badly hit the civil aviation sector.

Earlier, Kejriwal flagged the coronavirus variant found in Singapore which, he said, is proving to be "extremely dangerous" for children and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to  prioritise vaccination drive for children.

The Delhi Chief Minister's warning follows apprehensions raised over a third wave, which many experts have said may target children.

Singapore is now gearing up to vaccinate all those below 16 years while trying to break the chain of infection.

The latest curbs were imposed on May 13 and will remain in effect till June 13, the report said.

On April 29, Singapore had recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the last nine months, prompting the authorities to tighten measures to contain the virus (SAM)