New Delhi: A day after confirming that 255 Indians contracted the coronavirus in Iran, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that one of them have died, while segregation facilities have been arranged for the rest in Qom.
“There was one death reported. He was an elderly man,” said MEA additional secretary Dammu Ravi, who is the coordinator for response for COVID-19 in the ministry, at the joint inter-ministerial briefing. No other details were provided.
On Wednesday, Minister of State for external affairs V. Muraleedharan had informed Lok Sabha that 255 Indians had tested positive for coronavirus in Iran. Overall, the government had said that 276 Indians had contracted the disease in seven countries abroad.
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The death in Iran would be the first one reported of an Indian national for coronavirus outside the country.
To questions whether there was adequate segregation between the infected and healthy pilgrims, Ravi acknowledged that this had been a challenge, due to close-knit families.
“But we have been to a large extent successful. It required persuasion from our ambassador and mission officials… explaining the possibility of spread to their near and dear ones,” he said.
#Embassy in cooperation with #health authorities in #Qom set up a wellness facility to take care of & undertake 24/7 supervision of infected #Indian #pilgrims . #COVID19 @DrSJaishankar @harshvshringla @dhamugaddam @MEAIndia @MOS_MEA @drharshvardhan @MoHFW_INDIA pic.twitter.com/lsYndEhtc5
— India in Iran (@India_in_Iran) March 19, 2020
He noted that infected Indians are now in a separate facility and in proper medical conditions.
Till now, India has operated five flights to bring back Indian pilgrims and students from Iran.
Meanwhile, India is also facing a similar situation – though at a smaller scale – to Italy, which is the epicentre of the outbreak in Europe.
In Rome, India had sent a medical team to collect samples from Indian students who wanted to return back. Out of the 380 samples tested, 376 were negative, while four have been confirmed positive.
“Students are our priority, but we have to decide from where we can bring our students back. Those who tested negative will be brought back,” said MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
His senior colleague Ravi added that the plan was to bring Indian students though a special flight this weekend.
Earlier, India had arranged a special Air India flight from Milan which evacuated 218 Indian students. However, they were not tested before the flight, due to a total lockdown in the northern Italian provinces.