Coronavirus outbreak: Air India special flight lands in China's Wuhan to evacuate Indians

NEW DELHI: An Air India special flight landed in Wuhan, China to evacuate Indians from the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Air India's Boeing 747 is expected to return from Wuhan at 10 pm (local time) and reach Delhi around 2 am Saturday. 

China's Wuhan city is the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus that has killed 170 people, infected 7,711 others and spread to at least 17 countries.

#WATCH Air India special flight from Delhi lands in Wuhan (China) for the evacuation of Indians. #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/ccJHo6rw0K — ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2020

The government had earlier requested China for permission to operate two flights to bring back its nationals from worst-affected central Hubei province. Wuhan is the provincial capital of Hubei.

In a big relief for Indians - mostly students and professionals - stranded in Wuhan, the Indian Embassy in a note circulated through social media on Thursday said that preparations are on to evacuate them from the virus-hit region.

The Indian embassy has opened three hotlines to help the Indians in Wuhan to cope up with the crisis. Besides India, several other countries including the US, France, Japan, South Korea, are airlifting their nationals from Wuhan.

A large number of people from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh from the neighbourhood besides African countries were also reportedly stranded in Hubei province.

The nationwide death toll from novel coronavirus has jumped to 170 with 38 more fatalities reported mainly from Hubei province, the government said on Thursday, while confirming more than 1,700 new infections.

China's National Health Commission said on Thursday that 7,711 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps by the end of Wednesday.