New Delhi: Amidst deadly Coronavirus outbreak in China, India will send medical supplies on board a special relief plane to Wuhan city in China this week and bring back Indians who are still stuck there on the return flight, the Indian Embassy said on Monday.
“GoI will send a consignment of medical supplies on a relief flight to Wuhan later this week to support China to fight the COVID-19 epidemic. On its return, the flight will have limited capacity to take on board Indians wishing to return to India from Wuhan/Hubei,” Indian Embassy in China said in a series of tweets.
“Many Indian nationals currently in Wuhan/Hubei Province and wishing to return to India have already been in touch with @EOIBeijing in the past two weeks,” it added.
Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Misri said that subject to capacity, the special flight to Wuhan can take nationals from “all our neighbouring countries”, besides Indians.
“Subject to capacity limitations and space availability on the incoming aircraft, #India is also willing to facilitate nationals from all our neighbours boarding it on its return journey to #NewDelhi. Those interested are requested to contact @EOIBeijing,” Mr Misri tweeted.
The death toll in China due to this virus reached at 1,770 after 105 more people died, mostly in the worst-hit Hubei province, officials said on Monday.
Of the new deaths, 100 were from Hubei, three in Henan, and two in Guangdong.
India operated two special Air India flights on February 1 and 2 and airlifted 647 Indian nationals, mostly students, and seven Maldivian nationals.
“We urge all Indian nationals from Wuhan/Hubei Province who intend to avail this flight for India and have not yet contacted @EOIBeijing, to urgently call our hotlines +8618610952903 and +8618612083629 or send email to [email protected] before 1900 hours today (17 February 2020), the embassy tweeted.
On February 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping, offering India’s assistance to China to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.
