Coronavirus outbreak: India airlifts over 300 more citizens from Wuhan, helps evacuate 7 Maldives citizens too

Air India evacuates 7 Maldivians along with over 300 Indian citizens in the second special flight from Wuhan, China, amidst Coronavirus outbreak (image: financialexpress.com)

Second special Air India flight from China carrying second batch of evacuees took off from Wuhan (China) at 3 am today and reached Delhi earlier today. There were a total of 323 Indian citizens and 7 Maldives citizens onboard this flight.

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Foreign Minister of Maldives, Abdulla Shahid expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Modi and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar for rescuing Maldivians from Coronavirus hit Wuhan province of China. The seven Maldives citizens will be kept in Delhi for the quarantine period before being sent back to their country.

A total of 647 Indian citizens including 282 students have been evacuated by special Air India flight from Wuhan as of this morning. First batch of 324 Indian citizens reached Delhi on Saturday. As per the health ministry, over 50,000 passengers from 326 flights have been screen amidst coronavirus outbreak.

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President of Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih took to Twitter to thank India for helping evacuate Maldivians stuck in Wuhan.

Read: Watch: Pakistani student in Wuhan watches his Indian counterparts being evacuated as their govt ditches them after Coronavirus outbreak

Meanwhile, death toll in China because of coronavirus epidemic has risen to 304 and about 14,380 people have reportedly been infected with this virus in mainland China while 160 have reportedly been infected in rest of the world. As of now almost 20,000 suspected coronavirus cases have been reported from China.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia