New Delhi: Even as a thick fog enveloped the city on Sunday morning and disrupted flight operations for over three hours, the weather office has predicted dense fog on Monday morning with temperature expected to fall further to five degrees Celsius.

Flight operations were affected at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport here between 7.30 a.m. and 11 a.m. with visibility dropping to below 50 metres. The low visibility delayed around 200 flights with over 40 flights diverted to other airports and several cancelled. 

Even as flight operations resumed at around 11 a.m., the three-hour delay led to bunching up of flights which took hours to clear up.

At least 15 trains were also cancelled, 57 delayed and 18 rescheduled due to fog in several parts of northern India. 

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said there would be dense fog on Monday morning as well with mist or shallow fog during the day. 

"The minimum temperature on Monday would fall to five degrees Celsius from 6.4 degrees Celsius recorded Sunday," an official said.

The maximum temperature on Monday would hover around 23 degrees Celsius, the official said.

On Sunday, the maximum temperature was recorded at 23.9 degrees Celsius, four notches above the season's average while the minimum temperature was recorded a notch below the season's average at 6.4 degrees Celsius.

According to IMD, the mercury will start falling from January 1 with cold winds expected from the snow-covered mountains in the north.

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Vatican City (AP): Pope Francis was rolled into St Peter's Square in a wheelchair during a special Jubilee Mass for the sick, marking his first public appearance at the Vatican on Sunday since his release from the hospital two weeks ago.

The pontiff lifted his hands to wave at the crowd, who stood and applauded, as he was rolled to the front of the altar in the square.

“Good Sunday to everyone,'' the pope told the crowd. “Thank you very much.”

The pontiff's voice sounded stronger than when he addressed well-wishers outside of Gemelli hospital on the day of his release March 23, after battling life-threatening pneumonia during a five-week hospital stay.