2nd AI flight departs for Wuhan
Five doctors from Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital are onboard the plane 324 Indians returned on the first Air India flight sent by the Indian government Friday
India Saturday sent its second Air India aircraft to evacuate more Indians stranded at Wuhan in China, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus that has left more than 250 dead and over 12,000 infected globally.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Friday declared coronavirus a “global emergency”.
Five doctors from the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital — who were onboard the first flight — are also onboard the second flight.
Three-hundred-andtwenty-four Indians returned on the first Air India flight sent by the Indian government Friday.
The plane carrying 211 students, 110 working professionals and three minors, reached Delhi around 7.30 am.
The evacuees have been put up in a quarantine facility of the Indian Army and ITBP for observation. Officials said that they will be monitored for any signs of the infection for two weeks.
Before departure, Air India chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani said, “No service will take place in the plane. Whatever food is there will be kept in the seat pockets. As there will be no service, there will be no interaction (between the cabin crew and passengers).”
“Masks have been arranged for the crew and passengers. For our crew, we have also arranged a complete protective gear,” he added.
Meanwhile, two more people suspected of being affected by coronavirus were admitted to the isolation ward of Delhi’s RML Hospital, taking the number of patients housed in the facility to eight.
On Friday evening, two men, aged 23 and 46 years, complained of respiratory problems and fever at the hospital, which has been designated by the government to deal with such cases. The 23-year-old had been staying at Wuhan for the last five years and returned to India on January 24.
The other man had visited Changsa and returned to India on January 18.
Six people were already under observation at the isolation ward.
The samples of the eight people, all residents of Delhi, have been sent for testing and reports are awaited, the hospital authorities said.
India reported its first case of novel coronavirus in Kerala Thursday and the patient, a female student, has been kept in an isolation ward in the state.