COVID-19: Govt airlifts 192 Indians, 41 foreigners from Japan, China

The Government has brought back home on Thursday 192 Indian citizens from the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak in China as well as from a cruise ship, which was on quarantine off the coast of Japan since February 5 with several passengers and members of the crew on board infected with the same virus.

A C-17 military aircraft evacuated 73 Indian nationals from the ‘ground zero’ of the novel coronavirus outbreak in Hubei province of China. The Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft, which had returned to Delhi from Wuhan on Thursday, also had on board three officials of the Embassy of India in Beijing. They had gone from Beijing to Wuhan to coordinate the evacuation.

The aircraft had 36 foreign nationals, including 23 Bangladesh citizens, six Chinese, two each hailing from Myanmar and Maldives and one each from South Africa, the United States and Madagascar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated.

Sources in New Delhi said that six Chinese citizens, who had been airlifted by the IAF aircraft from Wuhan, were spouses and children of other evacuees.
Another Air India aircraft also landed in New Delhi on Thursday after airlifting from Tokyo altogether 119 Indian nationals, who were on board the 'Diamond Princess' cruise ship docked off at Yokohama in Japan. The evacuees included six passengers and 113 members of the crew of the cruise ship. The aircraft of the national carrier had also evacuated five foreign nationals from Tokyo – two Sri Lankans, one Nepalese, one South African and one Peruvian, the MEA stated.

Three of the Indian crew members of the 'Diamond Princess' did not board the special flight and conveyed their wish to continue their stay on-board the cruise ship to complete the period of extended quarantine put in place by the Government of Japan.

“The ship had altogether total 138 Indian nationals originally on-board the “Diamond Princess”, while 16 of them – all members of the crew – had tested positive for the Covid-19 and are currently receiving necessary medical care and treatment at onshore medical facilities in Japan. The Embassy of India in Tokyo has established contact with them and is continuously following-up on their recovery,” Raveesh Kumar, the MEA spokesperson, said in New Delhi.

All evacuees had been put on quarantine on their return to New Delhi. The evacuees from China were sent to a special camp set up by Indo-Tibetan Border Police at Chhawla in Delhi, while the ones from Japan were sent to a similar facility set up by Indian Army at Manesar in neighbouring Haryana. They will stay in the camps for the initial quarantine period of 14 days.

The Government had earlier airlifted 647 Indian nationals and 43 foreign nationals from the epicentre of the Covid-19 outbreak at Wuhan in China on January 31 and February 1. They had also been put on quarantine for 14 days at the camps in Chhawla and Manesar immediately after returning to Delhi.

India also sent 15 tonnes of medical supplies – masks, gloves, defibrillators and other emergency medical equipment – to Wuhan in China on board the C-17 aircraft on Wednesday as a mark of support to the endeavour by the local authorities and the government of the Communist country to contain the outbreak.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had written to Chinese President Xi Jinping on February 8, “expressing the solidarity of the people of India and the Indian Government with the people and Government of China and also offered assistance to China in this hour of need as a gift”. “The medical supplies will help augment China’s efforts to control the outbreak of this infection which has been declared as a Public Health Emergency by the World Health Organisation,” said the MEA spokesperson.