New Delhi: Air India’s 423-seater jumbo B747 plane departed Friday from the Delhi airport for Wuhan to evacuate Indian nationals as China deals with the Novel Coronavirus outbreak, officials said. There will be five doctors from the Health Ministry and one paramedical staff onboard, they said.
“The B747 plane is all set to depart from Delhi at 12.30 pm. It came Friday morning from Mumbai,” said a senior airline official.
Air India CMD said Friday, “No service will take place in the plane. Whatever food is there will be kept in seat pockets. As there will be no service, there will be no interaction (between cabin crew and passengers).”
Lohani also said how the crew and passengers will remain protected. “Masks have been arranged for the crew and passengers. For our crew, we have also arranged complete protective gear. Total five doctors from the Health Ministry are also going…The plane will be there (at Wuhan airport) for 2-3 hours,” added Lohani.
The government has reached out to over 600 Indians living in China’s Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, to ascertain their willingness to be brought back to India.
The death toll in China’s novel coronavirus outbreak Friday climbed to 213 with the number of confirmed cases totalling to 9,692. Hubei province reported 5,806 confirmed cases, including 204 deaths.
PTI