The special flight landed in New Delhi. However, six Indians were offloaded prior to departure from China’s Wuhan as they recorded high temperatures. The death toll in China reached 259.
New Delhi: A special Air India flight carrying 324 Indians, who were evacuated from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan, landed in the national capital on Saturday morning.
The Boeing 747 Jumbo aircraft had taken off from Wuhan's Tianhe International Airport in the early hours of Saturday and landed here at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi at 7:26 am. The passengers, mostly students, will be kept in isolation for 14 days at the ITBP centre in Chhawla in the national capital upon their arrival.
The departure of the flight was delayed from Wuhan airport as immigration and Chinese authorities did not allow six Indians on board after they reported high temperatures during screening.
"Six passengers were offloaded as they had high temperatures," a passenger said.
A screening camp has been set up at the Delhi Airport where they will be screened before they are put under quarantine.
All the passengers will go through necessary screening and following that will be put under observation. Ministry of external affairs, health ministry and the Army will make necessary arrangements for the passengers.
The Union health ministry had said on Friday that the government has made adequate quarantine camps at Manesar (managed by Armed Forces Medical Services) and at Chhawla (managed by ITBP).
The special double-decker flight with a team of doctors, 20 crew members, and all necessary resources like masks, medical equipment, packed food, prescribed medicines had departed from Delhi on Friday.
According to the Indian Embassy in Beijing, there will be another flight to evacuate the remaining Indian nationals.
"We look forward to operating another flight to evacuate remaining Indian nationals, who have consented to leave Hubei Province for the time being," the EOIBeijing announced on its official Twitter handle.
As many as 11,791 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been registered in China and the death toll reached 259 on Saturday, Sputnik reported citing Chinese authorities.