Irish budget carrier Ryanair has announced it’s grounding the majority or all of its flights beginning from March 24.

The drastic action from the airline is a response to the rapid global spread of the novel coronavirus.

Over the past few days, the spread of the virus has led most EU governments to impose severe travel bans and restrictions, which have had a negative impact on the schedules of all Ryanair Airlines, causing widespread cancellations and travel disruptions across the network, the carrier said.

"Our flight schedules have been hugely disrupted by these Government restrictions and will be subject to further cuts," Ryanair said.

In particular, from 24:00 March 18 until 24:00 March 24, Ryanair Group Airlines will cut flight schedules by over 80%. All affected customers will receive an email to advise them of their options․

From 24:00 March 24, the carrier expects that most if not all Ryanair Group flights will be grounded, except for a very small number of flights to maintain essential connectivity, mostly between the UK and Ireland.

Ryanair announced earlier that is has suspended flights from Yerevan to Rome and Milan from March 14 to April 8.

115 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Armenia, while the first patient has recovered.