263 Indians brought back from Italy sent to ITBP quarantine facility

A special Air India flight landed around 10 am at Delhi airport and all the passengers were taken to quarantine after thermal screenings.

Evacuees airlifted from Rome, Italy on their arrival at IGI airport, before being sent to a quarantine facility in New Delhi | Photo: PTI

New Delhi: A batch of 263 Indians evacuated from Italy in view of the COVID-19 outbreak there were brought back to the country on Sunday and sent to a ITBP quarantine facility, officials said.

“The special flight had 263 passengers. It landed at around 10 am at Delhi airport from Rome,” an Air India official said.

The Air India flight had taken off from the Delhi airport on Saturday.

“All the 263 people are being taken to our quarantine centre in Chhawla area of south-west Delhi after thermal screening and immigration at the tarmac,” an ITBP spokesperson said.

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police quarantine already has 215 Indians housed since March 15 after they were similarly evacuated by a special Air India flight from Rome.

The facility has earlier hosted two such batches of Indians and foreigners who were brought back from Wuhan in China in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.