New Delhi: India is preparing to evacuate citizens from China’s Hubei province following the coronavirus outbreak, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.
External affairs minister S. Jaishankar also said the Central government is planning to send a plane to Wuhan reported PTI.
“Indian Embassy is in constant touch with the Chinese government. To evacuate students and other Indians from Wuhan, we are planning to send a plane there. Our efforts are on to bring them back. It will take some days. I urge people to trust the government on this,” Jaishankar told reporters on his arrival at the Vadodara airport in Gujarat.
“No Indian student has been found to be affected by this virus. Parents need not worry about their children,” he said in Gujarat.
Also read: Coronavirus: First Suspected Case in Chandigarh, 3 Kept in Isolation Ward in Delhi
Reports have said that an Air India plane was on standby to evacuate an estimated 250 Indians from Wuhan, a city in Hubei province that is at the epicentre of the virus.
“We have begun the process to prepare for evacuation of Indian nationals affected by the situation arising out of Corona-2019 virus outbreak in Hubei Province, China,” spokesperson Kumar said.
Our @EOIBeijing is working out the logistics & is in touch with the Chinese govt. authorities & our nationals on this matter. We will continue to share updates. (2/2)
— Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 28, 2020
Authorities were working out the logistics of moving people out of the city which is under a lockdown, he said.
China has locked down more than 15 cities, including Wuhan, virtually quarantining a population of more than 50 million people in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The US and other nations have been screening passengers arriving from China, and by Tuesday some neighbouring countries were starting to impose further restrictions. Some Russian provinces said they would close their borders with China entirely.
(With inputs from Reuters and PTI)