Isolationwardssetupin NCR,evacueesawaited

CORONAVIRUS 300 people may be brought back, two flights could leave today

NEW DELHI: Indians living in China’s Wuhan city and its surrounding provinces that are the epicentre of the novel coronavirus (NCoV-2019) outbreak, will be evacuated and brought to isolation wards set up by the Union defence and labour ministries, and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, in Manesar and other parts of the National Capital Region, according to people familiar with the matter.

They added that the staff flying the two aircraft -- awaiting final clearances and expected to take off by Thursday -- will wear special protective gear and N95 masks to avoid contracting the highly contagious infection that has killed 132people in mainland China and infected around 6,000 people in the country. At least 14 other countries around the world have already reported positive coronavirus cases.

India is expected to evacuate around 300 citizens, 200 of whom are medical students. However, only those with no symptoms will be allowed to leave China. There is no information from China to suggest that any of the Indians has been infected.

“Our priority is to evacuate students from Wuhan, and arrangements are being made accordingly as these students will need to be closely monitored and put under quarantine for a stipulated period. We have sought help from the ministries of Defence, Labour, and ITBP to put in place isolation facilities near Delhi,” said Preeti Sudan, secretary, Union ministry of health and family welfare.