Corona toll shoots up, nations rush to evacuate citizens

CHINESE PRESIDENT XI SAYS SPREAD OF VIRUS HAS ACCELERATED, SITUATION NOW ‘GRAVE’’; FATALITIES JUMP TO 41 WITH 1,300 INFECTED

BEIJING: France, US and Russia on Saturday moved to evacuate their citizens while India is believed to have reached out to Beijing to allow its people stranded in Wuhan to leave the central Chinese city, which is the epicentre of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak that has killed 41 people and infected at least 1,300.

The evacuation plans come as Chinese President Xi Jinping warned on Saturday that situation had become “grave” given the “accelerating spread” of the virus across the country, which has now put as many as 18 cities on lockdown – including Wuhan where policemen were seen turning cars back from city borders.

The increase in the number of fatalities – from 26 on Friday to 41 – was the sharpest single-day spike in deaths due to the previously unseen virus that is believed to have begun spreading late December from a seafood market in Wuhan.

Around 250 Indians are still in Wuhan, people aware of the situation said, adding that hundreds more are believed to have headed back to India in the past two weeks for the Lunar New Year holidays. The remaining Indians in the city mostly comprise students and around 50 working individuals, these people added.

India has requested the Chinese foreign ministry as well as local officials in Wuhan to consider making arrangements for Indians to leave, news agency PTI quoted sources as saying. It is not clear how and when India plans to evacuate its citizens if approval is granted.

The US was reported to have begun arranging for a charter flight, a Boeing 767 jet that can carry around 230 passengers, to bring its citizens and diplomats back from Wuhan on Sunday, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Washington was given approval for the operation from the Chinese foreign ministry, the report added. Russia too was consulting with China while France was setting up a bus service to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan.