Engineers hailing from the city, who returned from Wuhan to India after the outbreak of COVID-19, reached home on Tuesday after being kept under observation for about two weeks at a quarantine facility at Manesar in Haryana. It is learnt that the engineers were given a clearance certificate by health officials, and asked to be under observation for a few more days.
They were welcomed by their parents and family members at the city airport. The parents were overjoyed to see their children return home safely after the month-long ordeal.
“We spent many sleepless nights praying for the safe return of our children. Even after they returned to India from China, we had to wait for two weeks to see them. We were looking forward to this day for the past one month,” said a parent, thanking the State and Union governments for ensuring their safe travel.
A parent confirmed that all the 35 engineers from the city have reached home safe. The engineers, who were studying at various colleges in and around Visakhapatnam district, were selected by Panel Opto-Display Technolgy Pvt. Ltd. (POTPL) in a campus drive in March 2019. In August 2019, it had sent 96 engineers from A.P. to its parent company China Star Opto-Electronics Technology (CSOT) in Wuhan city, for training.
After three months of training, 38 engineers were sent back to India, while 58 others were asked to remain in China as their training was extended by six months. After the outbreak of COVID-19, all the engineers were stuck in Wuhan from January 23 till February 1, on which day 56 engineers were airlifted by the Indian government to Manesar. The remaining two returned a few days later.