India will request China for a possible evacuation of over 250 Indians from Wuhan, the government said after a review meeting by the cabinet secretary to evaluate the situation arising out of the new coronavirus outbreak in the neighbouring country. “It was decided that steps may be taken to prepare for possible evacuation of Indian nationals in Wuhan. Accordingly, the ministry of external affairs will make a request to the Chinese authorities,” the government said. Ministries of civil aviation and health will make arrangements for transport and quarantine facilities, respectively.
Air India is preparing to operate a special flight on its Boeing 747 from Mumbai to Wuhan to fly out Indians from there. While the flight was scheduled to depart on Monday, the airline was awaiting clearances from various places, including the airport in Wuhan, to operate the special flight.
‘Clearances awaited to operate flight’
A source said, “We are in a state of preparedness. Our crew, medical teams and supplies are ready for the flight. But Wuhan is in a state of lockdown and services there, including at the airport, are hit. There is the issue of how people will reach the airport. All these issues are being sorted out with the help of the Indian embassy. As soon as we get all the clearances, we will operate the special flight.”
Many Indians, mostly medical students, are stuck in Wuhan - the epi centre of the new China virus – triggering concern for Indian authorities. With the number of cases increasing rapidly and amid mounting scare of a wider outbreak, Chinese authorities sealed Wuhan along with 12 other cities last week to stop the virus from spreading. The death toll climbed to 81 with 2,744 confirmed cases. The virus has now also spread to other countries with cases reported from the US, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Nepal. On Monday, cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a high-level review meeting to assess India’s preparedness to deal with coronavirus. The meeting decided to take a raft of precautionary measures, including the screening of people at international ports having traffic from China.
The Shipping Ministry, it is learnt, has been asked to start screening ports which have traffic from China and the Ministry of Civil Aviation has been asked to distribute health cards to all passengers travelling from China, ensure in-flight announcements and instruct airlines on reporting illness.
The Home Ministry has been asked to ensure that integrated checkposts initiate screening of visitors across Nepal border. States have been requested to provide health staff for these checkposts.
In another meeting, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan spoke to chief secretaries and DGPs of five states bordering Nepal - Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim - over video conference.
Two from Vadodara stuck in Wuhan
Two students from Vadodara are stuck along with other students of India in China’s Wuhan city.
Shreya Jaiman and Vrund Patel, who are second year students of MBBS in Hubei University in Wuhan city, are stuck inside their hostel room on the university campus in Wuhan which has been quarantined with all routes in and out of the city closed or highly regulated due to the outbreak the corona virus. The parents of Shreya and Vrund have appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union home minister Amit Shah to intervene and ensure that the kids return to India safely.
“The students are not infected by the virus. But their condition is very bad. They are all put inside the rooms of their hostel campus with not much to eat or drink,” said 18-year-old Shreya’s father Shashi Jaiman, who works with Indian Railways. The girl’s father sent out desperate appeals to the PMO, home minister’s office apart from Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani through twitter.
Vrund’s father Ramesh Patel said that the students, who were wearing masks, were all put up inside their rooms and had to walk one and a half km just to fetch water. “Since the last two days, markets have been closed. Even getting proper drinking water has become difficult. Presently, they are surviving on whatever stock they have with them,” said Patel, who works as a primary school teacher at Jesingpura primary school in Tilakwada taluka of Narmada district.
Gujarat gears up to deal with situation
With a doctor returning from China put under observation for suspected coronavirus infection, Gujarat has geared up for a possible first case in the state. The international airport at Mumbai is one of seven screening passengers returning from China. State health department officials said they are coordinating closely with central agencies to watch the situation. Dr Kamlesh Upadhyay, professor and head of medicine department at BJ Medical College, said that training on coronavirus protocols has been completed at all medical colleges in Ahmedabad and the medical college at Vadodara.
“Medical colleges in Surat and Rajkot are next. We will cover all medical colleges and departments handling critical care at government hospitals in phases. Isolation wards at major hospitals are ready,” said Dr Upadhyay.
