Coronavirus Outbreak: Centre begins process to evacuate Indians from China

Amid Novel Coronavirus (n-CoV) outbreak scares, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday announced that the Centre will evacuate Indians from China, who are affected by the situation arising out of the n-Cov outbreak crisis in Wuhan city, located in China's Hubei province.

The MEA has begun the process to prepare for the evacuation of "Indian nationals affected by the situation arising out of nCorona-2019 virus outbreak in Hubei Province, China," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted on Tuesday.

#CoronaVirusOutbreak Update

We have begun the process to prepare for evacuation of Indian nationals affected by the situation arising out of nCorona-2019 virus outbreak in Hubei Province, China. (1/2)

— Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) January 28, 2020

Further, he added that the Embassy of India in Beijing, China, is working closely with the Chinese government authorities and keeping a tab on the matter. Further updates will be provided later.

'Our Embassy in Beijing is working out the logistics and is in touch with the Chinese govt. authorities & our nationals on this matter. We will continue to share updates," the MEA spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, speaking on the matter, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar said that the Indian government is in contact with the Chinese government and efforts are being made to evacuate people, most of whom are students. Jaishankar assured that very soon all Indians will be evacuated from China.

"Our Embassy is in contact with the Chinese government. We are trying to evacuate people, most of whom are students, from Wuhan city by sending a plane. Efforts are on, I can assure you that Govt of India is working on it and very soon some solution will be found," Jaishankar told ANI.

EAM S. Jaishankar: Our Embassy is in contact with Chinese govt. We are trying to evacuate people, most of whom are students, from Wuhan city by sending a plane.Efforts are on,I can assure you that Govt of India is working on it&very soon some solution will be found. #Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/aj4O8H7lyQ

— ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2020

However, the Chinese Ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, has pointed out that the evacuation of nationals might not be a wise route to take since it may end up spreading the virus further. "The World Health Organization (WHO) does not recommend the evacuation of nationals and has called on the international community to remain calm and not overreact. The WHO is confident in China's epidemic prevention and control ability," Weidong said.

Several airports in the country have also started making arrangements regarding the awareness and prevention of coronavirus. The Chandigarh International Airport, it was reported, is collaborating with the Punjab government's medical team to execute the process of scanning the passengers who are arriving at the airport.

The Jammu and Kashmir government, too, has ordered the screening at airports of people arriving from China, Nepal, and other countries where the confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported.

Two medical camps have also been set up at the Madurai Airport to screen passengers flying down from foreign countries.