Working hard to ensure smooth evacuation of Indians from China's Hubei: Indian Embassy

Amid unprecedented deadly coronavirus outbreak, Embassy of India in Beijing posted an update on January 29 informing about their work to ensure 'smooth evacuation' of Indians from China. The novel virus has already claimed nearly 132 lives in China with 5,974 confirmed cases in the country. The Indian embassy in China is currently in touch with many sections of the Indian community in Hubei including students. The official account also posted the helpline numbers for Indians to get in touch with the officials as the execute evacuation. 

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Spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar has posted on January 28 that the authorities have begun to prepare for the evacuation of Indians which are affected by the drastic outbreak of the 2019-nCoV. Embassy of India in China is in close communication with the Chinese government and its officials to work out the logistics and provide speedy relief to Indian nationals. On evacuation, all individuals will be quarantined for two weeks and arrangements are made for the same. 

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Precautionary measures 

As per the statement of the Health Ministry, travel advisories have been sent to adjoining countries including China to spread information about the disease globally. The screening of passengers with travel history from China which was earlier only on seven airports has been extended to 13 more, taking the total to 20. According to the press release by the government, the authorities have been using thermal scanners for faster screening. 

Besides a lab in Pune, four more labs have been readied for testing the samples. Furthermore, the ministry of shipping has also initiated screening at major ports. Till January 28, according to the statement, 155 flights were screened including 33,552 passengers. Out of all, samples of 20 passengers have been tested in NIV Pune and all were negative. 

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