Indian Navy puts off its biggest exercise ‘Milan’ amid coronavirus scare
The decision to put off the drill was taken after several navies indicated their inability to take part in the exercise because of new coronavirus cases being detected in different parts of the world, said an official.
India has decided to defer its biggest maritime exercise, Milan, in the wake of rising cases of coronavirus infections outside China, two officials said on Tuesday on condition of anonymity.
The multi-nation naval drills were to be staged off the Visakhapatnam coast from March 19 to March 28.
“The exercise is being postponed due to the coronavirus scare. The new dates have not been finalised yet,” said the first official cited above.
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The decision to put off the drill was taken after several navies indicated their inability to take part in the exercise because of new coronavirus cases being detected in different parts of the world, said the second official cited above.
Around 40 countries were scheduled to take part in the exercise—China was not invited to the drills.
The exercise was traditionally staged off Port Blair but was moved to the eastern seaboard this year as it offers better bandwidth for conducting bigger drills.
The latest edition of Milan was being organised in the backdrop of China’s growing naval activity in the Indian Ocean region.
The countries to whom invitations were sent include Indonesia, France, Mozambique, Sudan, Israel, Qatar, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, Somalia, Kenya, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Myanmar, New Zealand, the US, Tanzania, Comoros, Maldives, Brunei, Philippines, Japan, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Mauritius, Cambodia, Singapore, South Korea, South Africa, Kuwait, Iran, Madagascar, Bangladesh, Russia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Bahrain, UAE and Seychelles.
Some of the countries invited have reported a rise in coronavirus cases.