218 Indians from coronavirus-hit Italy land in Delhi

A special flight of Air India carrying 211 Indian students and eight other passengers, who were stranded in coronavirus-hit Italy after flights were cancelled, landed in Delhi on Sunday.

Union minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan said the flight, which had taken off from Milan on Saturday, carried 218 Indians, including 211 students.

“All will be quarantined for 14 days. The government is committed to reaching out to Indians in distress, wherever they are,” the minister said, according to news agency ANI.

The Indian consulate in Milan tweeted its gratitude to all those who had helped them evacuate the Indian nationals.

“211 students & 7 compassionate cases departed by AI flight #Milan. All those who helped us through this difficult situation, special thanks to @airindiain team & Italian authorities. Consulate will continue to ensure the welfare of all Indians in northern #Italy,” the Indian consulate had tweeted.

India evacuated its nationals out after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic and said Europe is the new epicentre of the virus.

Italy remains the worst affected country in Europe and second only to China, where the highly infectious virus first emerged.

The death toll in Italy’s coronavirus outbreak rose to 1441 on Saturday, up almost 14% from the 1266 total reported a day earlier, officials said. The total number of cases rose to 21,157 from 17,660, they said.

Air India has cancelled flights to Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Israel, South Korea and Sri Lanka till April 30, amid mounting concerns over coronavirus pandemic.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)