100 INDIANS TO BE EVACUATED
Plane was initially scheduled to fly to China on Thursday but flight was put off
India is awaiting clearance from the Chinese government to despatch a military transport aircraft to Wuhan with medical supplies and to bring back about 100 Indian nationals, the ministry of external affairs said.
NEWDELHI: India is awaiting clearance from the Chinese government to despatch a military transport aircraft to Wuhan with medical supplies and to bring back about 100 Indian nationals, the external affairs ministry said on Thursday.
The massive C-17 Globemaster aircraft was initially scheduled to fly to China on Thursday but the flight was put off due to the lack of clearance. This will be the third flight operated by India to evacuate its nationals from China since the Coronavirus outbreak.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the relief flight will carry medical and relief materials as a “token of support” for China’s fight against the epidemic and bring back about 100 Indians who had expressed a desire to return. “We are currently awaiting clearance from the government of China,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had offered the assistance to China in keeping with India’s role as a first responder to crises in the region, he said.
At the same time, India is monitoring the status of its nationals in China, especially Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, and they had been advised to continue taking all precautions. There was no ban on travel to China though
India has issued a travel advisory that was aimed at maintaining public health and containing the spread of the virus, Kumar said.
Eight Indians on the cruise ship Diamond Princess, who were infected by the Coronavirus, are being treated at a hospital in Japan and their condition is improving. The ship, currently anchored off the Japanese coast, has 132 Indian crew members and eight passengers.
The quarantine period for the crew and passengers ended on
Wednesday and they were currently in the process of disembarking the vessel, Kumar said.
INDIA’S THIRD PATIENT DISCHARGED
A woman medico, who was India’s first novel coronavirus patient being treated at the Government Medical College hospital here was discharged on Thursday, official sources said.
The decision to discharge her from the hospital was taken by the Medical Board, which met
and examined the results of the woman’s samples that had tested negative for the second time, they said.
The discharge of the student marked the recovery of all three cases of infection in India reported from Kerala.
Two other students -- one from Alappuzha and another Kasaragod -- had been discharged recently after they too tested negative for the coronavirus in fresh tests days after being infected by it.