E-Paper
Coronavirus Update- Flight to evacuate Indians from new Covid 19 epicentre, Italy, departs
Close to 1.6 lakh Indians live and work in Italy apart from around 3,800 students who study there in various universities. So far 83 Indians from Italy have already arrived in the country.
An Air India special flight left on Saturday to evacuate over 200 Indian citizens from Italy which is the new global epicenter of coronavirus with close to 1300 deaths and 18,000 infections. The special plane left Delhi late afternoon and will land in Milan early Sunday morning. The return flight is also planned for Sunday morning.
A team of Indian medical experts has begun testing Indian nationals at the embassy in Rome for the covid 19 since yesterday afternoon before clearing them for the flight back home.
Close to 1.6 lakh Indians live and work in Italy apart from around 3,800 students who study there in various universities. So far 83 Indians from Italy have already arrived in the country.
India decided to send its own medical team to facilitate mandatory testing for evacuation which was getting delayed due to the heavy pressure on the Italian medical infrastructure due to the meteoric rise in the number of domestic Covid 19 suspects post the infection explosion there.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar retweeted pictures of Indian medical team testing Indian students at the Indian embassy in Rome.
The embassy has also circulated four helpline numbers: +39 3201749773 / +39 3248390031 / +39 3316142085 / +39 3311928713 for all Indian nationals requiring assistance in Italy.
Italy has implemented tough measures leading to a virtual lockdown resulting in people being confined at homes.
Public playgrounds and parks in many Italian cities, including Rome and Milan are now out of bounds for residents.
Indian Ambassador to Italy Reenat Sandhu told Hindustan Times that the Indian medical team will stay put for a few more days to carry out as many tests as possible. She said those who test negative will be quarantined on arrival in India for 14 days.
Union minister Hardeep Puri said on Saturday that India had so far screened 10,876 flights including 11,71,061 passengers at airports for coronavirus.
Centre also announced restrictions on international passenger traffic through land check posts in order to contain the disease and declared Covid 19 to be a state disaster.
