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HomeIndiaAir India plane on standby to evacuate Indians from coronavirus-hit Wuhan

Air India plane on standby to evacuate Indians from coronavirus-hit Wuhan

At a Cabinet Secretary meeting on Monday, the government decided that steps may be taken to prepare for the possible evacuation of Indians in Wuhan.

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Mumbai: Flag carrier Air India has kept one of its 423-seater jumbo plane ready in Mumbai for the evacuation of Indian citizens from Wuhan province in China in the wake of Cornovirus outbreak in the East Asian country, an official source said on Tuesday.

The airline is awaiting necessary approvals from the ministries of External Affairs and Health to operate the special evacuation flight, the source said.

The decision follows the government instructions to various ministries to take steps to deal with the issue.

“We have kept a Boeing 747-400 ready in Mumbai to operate an evacuation flight to China whenever we get a go ahead from the government,” the source said.

Some 250 Indians are to be evacuated, the source said, adding, “we are awaiting clearances from Ministry of External Affairs and also from Health Ministry. The Health Ministry’s nod is required because the operating crew has to fly in a virus outbreak territory.”

At the Cabinet Secretary meeting on Monday, the government decided that steps may be taken to prepare for the possible evacuation of Indian nationals in Wuhan.

Coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus in China is a novel strain and not seen before.

The outbreak has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

Accordingly, Ministry of External Affairs will make a request to the Chinese authorities while the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Health will make arrangements for transport and quarantine facilities respectively, an official release had said on Monday.

Government also asked the Civil Aviation Ministry to issue instruction to airlines for managing and notifying anybody reporting illness on all direct and indirect flight to China besides facilitating in-flight announcements and distribution of health cards to all flights with direct or indirect connectivity to China.

Officials said Ministry of External Affairs will make a request to the Chinese authorities for evacuation of Indian nationals, mostly students, stuck in Wuhan city.

“It was decided that steps may be taken to prepare for possible evacuation of Indian nationals in Wuhan. Accordingly, Ministry of External Affairs will make a request to the Chinese authorities,” a government statement said.

Wuhan along 12 other cities have been completely sealed by the Chinese authorities to stop the virus from spreading. The death toll climbed to 80 with 2,744 confirmed cases.

Over 250 to 300 Indian students are reportedly stuck in Wuhan triggering concerns over their well-being.

According to the World Health Organisation, the common symptoms of the virus strain include respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.


Also read: Coronavirus spread pushes drugmakers to hunt for ways to stop pathogen eluding travel curbs


Delhi-NCR

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Three persons with a travel history to China have been kept under observation at an isolation ward of the RML Hospital here for a possible exposure to novel coronavirus, officials said on Tuesday.

The three — all men aged between 24 and 48 — were admitted on Monday and their samples have been sent for testing to ICMR-NIV Pune laboratory, Dr Minakshi Bhardwaj, Medical Superintendent of RML Hospital, said.

While two of the men are residents of Delhi, one hails from NCR.

All the three patients have respiratory problems like cold and cough along with fever and they self-reported at the designated health facility to deal with such cases.

According to Bhardwaj, two of the patients had returned from China about a week ago while the other about a month back.

Kerala

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At least 436 people, who returned to Kerala from China in recent days, are under observation for possible exposure to the novel coronavirus (nCoV), according to health officials in Thiruvananthapuram.

Five people are still under observation in isolation wards at various hospitals across the state, officials said, adding, all results of blood samples sent to the National Institute of Virology at Pune till now have been found to be negative for the virus.

While three people are in hospitals at Ernakulam, one each are in Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur, officials said. Two people, admitted earlier to hospitals in Pathanamthitta and Malappuram, have been discharged.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrange for airlifting stranded Indians from Wuhan saying the state had information from relatives of students from Kerala studying at various Universities there that the situation there was “grave.”

Maharashtra

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As many as 3,756 passengers arriving from China were screened for the coronavirus at the international airport here since January 18, but no confirmed case of the deadly disease has been found so far in Mumbai, a state health department official said on Monday.

Five people are under observation in Maharashtra, including three who have tested negative. Reports of the others are awaited, the official said.

A high-level meeting was held in chaired by Pradeep Vyas, principal secretary, public health department, to review preparations to deal with any situation.

“The government will prepare a list of passengers who have returned to Mumbai from China since January 1 this year and will enquire about their health condition,” the official said.

Bihar

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A woman who returned from China last week was admitted to a Patna hospital on Monday with symptoms similar to those of coronavirus.

The woman who is in her 20s returned home to Chapra, the headquarters of Saran district, from China on January 22 and she was taken to the Chapra Sadar Hospital three days later.

Punjab

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A 28-year-old Mohali resident, who returned from China recently, has been admitted to the isolation ward of PGIMER here after showing novel coronavirus-like symptoms, an official said on Tuesday.

This is the first suspected case of novel coronavirus in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh region.

The patient, who hails from Uttar Pradesh but lives in Punjab’s Mohali, had returned from China last week.

Gujarat

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Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to intervene after parents of students studying in Wuhan sought help for their safe return.

The state government said as many as 100 students from the state are stuck in China, and informed that Rupani has spoken to Jaishankar on phone asking him to ensure their safe return home.

Telangana

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Three persons, who had travelled to China but do not have symptoms of the novel Coronavirus, were under observation of medical authorities in Hyderabad.

The three approached the authorities in view of spread of the virus in China and they were admitted to the state-run Institute of Tropical Diseases (Fever hospital) in the city, medical sources said.

However, two of them have since been discharged after being advised to stay put at home, they said.

Karnataka

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As part of preventive steps , two residents of Bengaluru who returned from China about ten days ago, have been kept under medical supervision at a hospital, the Karnataka Health Department said.

Another person who was admitted for medical supervision three days ago had been discharged after he tested negative.

Goa

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The Goa government has decided to form a special task force to deal with the situation.

Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has said that people arriving in Goa from the virus-affected regions outside India would be closely monitored.

“I have given instructions to form a special task force to monitor any cases of coronavirus in Goa. All the activities, including people arriving from the virus-affected regions, would be closely monitored and information reported to the state Chief Secretary,” Rane said.

The task force will work as per the guidelines laid down by the Union Ministry of Health, he added.


Also read: China gives us hope why coronavirus won’t be as deadly as SARS in 2003


 

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