Over forty Indian students and several other Indians who are being airlifted from China’s Wuhan city in Hubei province, in view of the Coronavirus outbreak, have reached the airport in the city.
Wuhan has been the epicentre of the outbreak, which was declared a ‘public health emergency’ by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the early hours of Friday.
“We finally reached the airport to get back to India,” it was with a sigh of relief that Anaz* told TNM that they are finally waiting to get on the flight back to their home country. The students were taken to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in a bus arranged by the Indian Embassy.
For the last two days, the 46 Indian students of Wuhan University, had been waiting for a call from the Embassy. “We were actually waiting impatiently for the bus from morning,” another student told TNM.
As per the students, they will have to undergo the medical screening at the Wuhan airport before boarding the flight.
In a statement circulated on social media, the Indian Embassy had stated that airlifting of the students would take place on Friday evening. “This flight will carry those Indian nationals who are in and around Wuhan and have conveyed consent for their evacuation. There will be another flight subsequently which will carry those who are from other parts of Hubei province," it read.
Individuals being airlifted will be taken to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi where they will be screened and categorised based on how likely they are to be a carrier of the virus or be infected themselves. Following that the students and those others returning from Hubei province of China will be quarantined at the Indian Army’s facility in Manesar near Delhi.
The students will be screened and will be categorised as suspected cases, close contact or a non-contact case. It will be as per this categorisation that they will be assigned places in quarantine centres.
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