CORONAVIRUS: Govt makes formal request to evacuate Indian nationals from China’s Wuhan
NEW DELHI/VADODARA: As China scrambles to contain the fast-spreading Coronavirus, which has already claimed more than 100 lives there, India is planning to evacuate its nationals, mostly students, stuck in Wuhan, the epicentre of the viral outbreak.
Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Tuesday reviewed the preparedness to deal with the deadly virus after which the government said India has made a formal request to China for facilitating the evacuation of Indians from Wuhan.
The Civil Aviation Ministry will make necessary arrangements for evacuation after the approval of Chinese authorities is received, a release from the Union Health Ministry said. Asserting that there was no confirmed case of the novel Coronavirus (ncov), Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said India was making all efforts to detect and check the spread of the virus.
As part of the preparedness, India has also increased the number of airports from seven to 20 to do the thermal screening of passengers for possible exposure to the deadly ncov, and made four more laboratories functional other than NIVPUNE for testing samples.
As the deadly virus continued to spread in various provinces in China,
Indian students, hailing from various states including Gujarat, have expressed their desire to return. “Indian Embassy is in constant touch with the Chinese government. To evacuate students and other Indians from Wuhan, we are planning to send a plane there. Our efforts are on to bring them back. It will take some days. I urge people to trust the government on this,” Jaishankar said.
“No Indian student has been found to be affected by this virus. Parents need not worry about their children,” he said.
The Indian nationals, mostly students, research scholars and professionals are working in Indian and international companies in China’s Hubei province. As India started the preparations to evacuate over 250 Indians, stuck in the province, its embassy in Beijing said these nationals will have to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine on their return.