India evacuates 323 Indians, 7 Maldivians from coronavirus-hit Wuhan

New Delhi, February 2

A second Air India flight carrying 323 Indians and seven Maldivians from Wuhan in China landed at Delhi airport on Sunday morning.

In the first flight early on Saturday, 324 Indians were evacuated and were admitted to the two quarantine facilities set up by the Army and the ITBP, though none of them have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to officials.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in a tweet on Sunday, “7 Maldivians brought back with 323 Indians from Wuhan on the second @airindiain flight today. #NeighbourhoodFirst at work again.”       

Wuhan is the epicentre of outbreak of novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 300 people in China.

Two Indians, both from Kerala, have been tested positive for novel coronavirus.

Due to the outbreak, IndiGo has suspended all three flights between India and China. Air India has suspended its Delhi-Shanghai flight and curtailed the flight operations on the Delhi-Hong Kong route.

An Air India spokesperson said at 9.45 am, “323 passengers and seven Maldivians were there in the second special flight from Wuhan, which landed at Delhi airport just now.”     

Five doctors from the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, who were onboard the first flight, were also present in the second flight, the spokesperson said.

Out of the 324 people that have been evacuated through first Air India flight, 56, 53 and 42 are from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, respectively.

Air India has done such evacuations earlier also from countries such as Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Kuwait and Nepal. PTI