China requested to operate 2 flights for evacuating Indians from Hubei: MEA

New Delhi [India], Jan 29 (ANI): The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Wednesday said that the Chinese government requested for permission to operate two flights to evacuate Indian nationals from Hubei province in China in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak that has already killed more than 130 people in the East Asian country.
"Chinese Government requested for permission to operate two flights to bring back our nationals from Hubei Province of China. @EOIBeijing in touch with Chinese authorities on the ground to work out necessary logistics. We will share regular updates," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
The ministry initiated the evacuation process for Indian citizens residing in Wuhan on Tuesday after talks with the Chinese authorities.
The Indian government has issued a travel advisory, asking people to refrain from travelling to China.
In addition, the thermal screening facilities, as a precautionary measure, have been extended to 21 airports now, including Gaya, Guwahati, Vizag, Varanasi and Goa.
A total of 33,552 passengers arriving in India from China in 155 flights have been screened at different airports till Monday.
The Wuhan novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain of coronavirus that has not been identified before. The exact source of infection of 2019 nCoV is not known yet.
Coronavirus is a large family of viruses that cause respiratory illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).
The symptoms reported in patients with nCoV include acute onset of fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing. The infection results in severe complications and even death.
China has imposed quarantine and travel restrictions, affecting the movement of 56 million people in more than a dozen cities, amid fears that the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel for the Lunar New Year. (ANI)