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Business News/ News / India/  Air India flight leaves for China with medical team to evacuate citizens
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Air India flight leaves for China with medical team to evacuate citizens

The flight is carrying masks and packaged food, which are to be kept in seat pockets instead of being served
  • India had requested China for permission to operate two flights to airlift its nationals from the worst-affected central Hubei province
  • The Air India flight has a 15-member crew and a team of five doctors, medical aides, engineers and security personnel. (Photo: Reuters)Premium
    The Air India flight has a 15-member crew and a team of five doctors, medical aides, engineers and security personnel. (Photo: Reuters)

    NEW DELHI : An Air-India flight left on Friday afternoon for the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, to start evacuating Indian nationals, hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the infection a global emergency.

    The flight, which is due to return early on Saturday, has onboard a team of five doctors, other medical staff, engineers and security personnel. The flight is equipped with masks, overcoats and packaged food, which are to be kept in seat pockets instead of being served. The aircraft has 423 seats.

    An Air India spokesperson said that another aircraft may depart for Wuhan from Delhi on Saturday to bring back a second batch.

    India had requested China for permission to operate two flights to airlift its nationals from the worst-affected central Hubei province.

    “The national carrier once again comes to the rescue—this time to evacuate Indians from Wuhan, the site of the outbreak of the coronavirus," said Ashwani Lohani, chairman and managing director of state-run Air India. “This mission begins today with a Jumbo 747 operating between Delhi and Wuhan."

    On their return, the evacuees will be screened at the airport. Those suspected of being infected will then be moved to an isolation ward at Base Hospital at Delhi Cantonment.

    The rest of the passengers—irrespective of whether they are suspected to have come in contact with infected people or food centres—will be shifted to a quarantine facility prepared by the army near Manesar in Haryana. They will be monitored for signs of infection by doctors and medical aides for a period of two weeks.

    Persons with no symptoms after the quarantine period will be discharged while those who show signs of coronavirus infection will be moved to the cantonment hospital.

    The quarantine facility consists of accommodation barracks, administrative areas and a medical facility area, which has been divided into sections that can accommodate 50 people each to prevent any mass outbreak.

    On Friday morning, WHO declared the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, “an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response."

    The declaration serves notice to all United Nations member-states that the world’s top health advisory body thinks the situation is “serious".

    India on Thursday reported its first case of novel coronavirus after an Indian student of Wuhan University in China tested positive in Kerala.

    “There are now 82 cases in 18 countries. Of these, only seven had no history of travel in China. There has been human-to-human transmission in three countries outside China. One of these cases is severe and there have been no deaths," the WHO said.

    According to Johns Hopkins University, as of Friday China had recorded 213 deaths. A total of 9,776 people were confirmed with the infection globally, including 9,658 in mainland China.

    Meanwhile, Artificial Intelligence-driven Tavel app ixigo said the outbreak has resulted in a 10-15% increase in cancellations across airlines for travel to China from India for the month of February.

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    Published: 31 Jan 2020, 10:47 PM IST
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