Evacuees fly back from coronavirus-hit Wuhan

BEIJING/NEW DELHI: A special Air India jet was set to leave Wuhan with 366 Indians on Friday night, the first of two flights that will evacuate Indian citizens stranded in the central China city that is the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. On Friday, the number of deaths due to the pathogen reached 213 and confirmed infections globally neared 10,000. The speed of the spread — coronavirus infections have now surpassed the total number of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) cases seen in 2003 — prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) late on Thursday to declare the outbreak a global health emergency. According to Indian aviation officials, a Boeing 747-400 — one of the largest in Air India’s fleet — arrived in Wuhan on Friday evening with a team of doctors to take back the Indians who had been stranded in a city of nearly 11 million people now completely locked down over the outbreak.

The jet left India with 20 crew members, five doctors from Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital and an Air India paramedic with stocks of medicines, masks, protective gear and packed food. The aircraft, which can seat 423 people, also had on-board a team of engineers and security personnel.

“No service will take place in the plane. Whatever food is there will be kept in seat pockets. As there will be no service, there will be no interaction between the cabin crew and passengers,” said Ashwani Lohani, the chairman and managing director of Air India who was present during the departure.

AFP Officials in protective suits stand next to a grey-haired man wearing a mask who collapsed and died on a street near a hospital in Wuhan on Thursday. An AFP journalist at the site said that the man, who still had a plastic shopping bag in his hand, was initially moving, but the few passers-by there dared not go near him.