Coronavirus: Air India special flight to evacuate Indians from Wuhan

Air India will operate a special flight to Wuhan City on Friday to evacuate Indian nationals stranded at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak that has triggered panic globally.

A special 423-seater Boeing 747 jet will depart from Delhi at 12.30 pm on Friday.

“The national carrier once again comes to the rescue – this time to evacuate Indians from Wuhan, the site of the outbreak of coronavirus. This mission begins today with a Jumbo 747 operating between Delhi and Wuhan,” Air India Chairman-cum-Managing Director Ashwani Lohani said here. The crew will include doctors and medical supplies with specific instructions to evacuate non-infected persons from the Chinese city.

The evacuation comes a day after India reported its first case of the coronavirus in Kerala.

The Indian Embassy in Beijing has out to over 600 Indians living in China's Hubei province to inquire whether they were keen to be flown back to India.

The death toll in China's novel coronavirus outbreak has touched 213 with the number of confirmed cases totalling to 9,692, China's national authorities announced on Friday.

The World Health Organisation had declared an international emergency on Thursday over the deadly novel coronavirus that has originated from China.