New Delhi, February 1: The special Air India (AI) flight carrying 324 Indians, which took off from Wuhan in China, landed at the IGI airport in Delhi on Saturday. According to a tweet by ANI, the coronovirus screening will be conducted by a team of doctors at Delhi Airport for all Indian nationals who have arrived today. Later on, if necessary, they will be put under medical observation. The aircraft flew to China with five doctors from Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and an Air India paramedic.
The Air India plane departed from India to evacuate Indian nationals stranded in China due to novel coronavirus. According to a report by NDTV, parents of students who were brought to India from China, thanked the national carrier for its efforts and their sacrifice of going to Wuhan and bringing their children back.
On Saturday, Air India Spokesperson informed that another Air India special flight will depart today at 12:50 pm from Delhi for Wuhan (China) for the evacuation of Indians. The rescue team will be headed by Captain Amitabh Singh, Director Operation, Air India.
Here's the tweet:
An Air India flight carrying 324 Indian nationals from the coronavirus hit Hubei Province of China took off from Wuhan in the early hours of Feb 1. Majority of the passengers were Indian students. We sincerely thank the Chinese government for facilitating this flight. (1/3)
— India in China (@EOIBeijing) January 31, 2020
An Air India 423-seater jumbo B747 plane left for Wuhan from the Delhi airport on Friday afternoon. The flight had departed from Indira Gandhi International Airport (T3), Delhi for the central Chinese city on Friday. A number of students and other professionals are staying in the virus-affected area.
Reports inform that all the Indian nationals, who landed in the national capital on Saturday, will be quarantined at an Army facility at Manesar, near Delhi, for two weeks. They will be released if they show no symptoms of having contracted the deadly coronavirus.
Take a Look at the Tweet by ANI:
Delhi: #CoronaVirus screening will be conducted by a team of doctors at Delhi Airport for all the 324 Indians who have arrived in the Air India special flight from Wuhan (China). Later on, if necessary, they will be put under medical observation. https://t.co/nhLnq2GIz8 pic.twitter.com/NgGep1mM6q
— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2020
According to reports, the plane did not carry any crew except the pilots, who have been provided protective gear against the infection. Food packets were also placed in the seat pockets as no cabin crew are being sent on the flight. Reports inform that the Indian government has contacted around 600 Indian nationals resident in Hubei province to check on their preparedness of their return to India.
In China, the death toll from the novel coronavirus outbreak in China has risen to 259. The total number of confirmed cases have gone up to 11,791. Efforts are being made by a number of countries to evacuate their nationals from Hubei province, the epicentre of the virus.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 01, 2020 08:41 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).