After evacuating nearly 600 of its citizens from China, India is all set to send another relief flight to Wuhan, which is the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus.
India has asked its citizens stuck in the epidemic-hit Chinese city to connect with their embassy to board a special plane, equipped with relief materials. The Indian embassy also released emergency contact numbers for those who want to get on the flight.
The Indian embassy in China took to its official Twitter handle to say: “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. 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.”
“We urge all Indian nationals from Wuhan/Hubei who intend to avail this flight and have not yet contacted us, to urgently call our hotlines +8618610952903 and +8618612083629 or send email to [email protected] before 1900 hours today (17 February 2020),” it further said. The post was retweeted by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
We urge all Indian nationals from Wuhan/Hubei who intend to avail this flight and have not yet contacted us, to urgently call our hotlines +8618610952903 and +8618612083629 or send email to [email protected] before 1900 hours today (17 February 2020) (3/3) @MEAIndia
— India in China (@EOIBeijing) February 17, 2020
Previously, India had brought back over 600 of its citizens from China on two Air India B-747 aircrafts on February 1 and February 2. The citizens are currently in quarantine. Till date, there have been three registered cases of the novel coronavirus in the country-- all three of them in Kerala. The individuals are said to have been recovered now.
The virus has claimed four lives out of China.
The death toll continues to mount with over 100 new deaths reported on Sunday in the mainland. As per health officials, the total number of deaths has reached to 1,770 with the more than 70500 people infected in the country.