234 Indians stranded in Coronavirus-hit Iran arrive in India; EAM thanks authorities

In a latest development,  as many as 234 Indians who were among the people stranded in Iran amid the Coronavirus outbreak have arrived in India, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.  A Mahan Air flight carrying the Indians onboard landed in Mumbai. Among the 234 people, 131 of them are students and the rest are pilgrims.

In the wee hours of Sunday, Jaishankar took to Twitter and apprised about the same and further thanked the Iranian authorities for facilitating the evacuations of Indians.

Iran is among the worst affected country from the coronavirus with 12,729 cases and 611 deaths so far. In the past few days, India has carried out several evacuations of Indians nationals across the world. The first batch consisting of 58 nationals was brought back in a C17 military transport aircraft on Tuesday followed by another evacuation of 44 individuals on Friday.

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Iran reports 85 more deaths from Coronavirus

On March 13, Iran announced 85 new Coronavirus deaths. The latest deaths take the overall toll in Iran to 514. Iran has reported 11,364 cases, out of which 3,529 have already recovered.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour during a televised news conference announced the deaths. As per reports, he also added that 1,289 were added to the list of confirmed patients. The Coronavirus outbreak in Iran is one of the deadliest in the world outside of mainland China.

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Coronavirus Outbreak 

As of date, the total number of positive cases in India has risen up to 88. Two deaths have also been reported, in Kalaburagi and West Delhi respectively.  

First detected in Wuhan in December 2019, COVID-19- the novel coronavirus has affected over 120 countries in the world. As there is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine to treat COVID-19, countries have been grappling with all possible mechanisms to contain its scope. So far, China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran have witnessed the most number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.

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