COVID-19: Air India to Send Aircraft to Rome to Bring Back Indians
Air India will send a 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Rome on Saturday afternoon to evacuate Indians stranded there.
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National carrier Air India will send a 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Rome on the afternoon of Saturday, 21 March, to evacuate Indians stranded there amid the coronavirus crisis, news agency PTI reported.
On Thursday, Dammu Ravi, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, had said at a media briefing that 380 swab samples of Indians were brought back from Italy. Out of these, four were tested positive for coronavirus, PTI had quoted him as saying.
The Centre issued a statement on Thursday that no international flights would be allowed to land in India from 22 March onward for a period of one week.
The flight will evacuate all Indians stranded in Rome and return to Delhi on Sunday morning, the official added.
A total of 218 Indians, mostly students, were evacuated from Milan last Sunday, following which they were taken to an ITBP quarantine facility in south-west Delhi's Chhawla area.
Evacuation on For Indians in Iran
Meanwhile, India is also evacuating Indians stranded in Iran in batches. On Sunday, 15 March, two Air India flights carrying over 230 Indians from coronavirus-hit Iran landed in Jaisalmer. The passengers of the flight have been quarantined at the Indian Army Wellness Centre at Jaisalmer, PTI reported.
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the batch comprised 131 students and 103 pilgrims.
Iran has registered more than 1,400 deaths amid the outbreak of COVID-19, Al Jazeera reported.
(With inputs from PTI, AP, and Al Jazeera.)
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