Coronavirus: Special IAF flight with 76 Indians, 36 foreigners arrives in Delhi

An Indian Air Force (IAF) special aircraft, on February 27, arrived in New Delhi with 76 Indians and foreign nationals stranded in China due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Earlier, the C-17 Globemaster aircraft had landed in Wuhan with 15 tonnes of medical supplies from India.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar described the consignment of relief material as a strong expression of India's solidarity with the Chinese people in their "difficult time".

The consignment comprises masks, gloves and other emergency medical equipment sent by India.

“76 Indian nationals are returning home on this flight, which also has on board 23 nationals from Bangladesh, 6 from China, 2 each from Myanmar and Maldives and one each from South Africa, USA and Madagascar. Wish them all a safe journey and good health,” Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Misri had tweeted earlier.

Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP): Globemaster landed at 6:45 am today from China with 112 evacuees, including 36 foreign nationals. All evacuees will be taken to the ITBP quarantine facility in Chhawla, Delhi after their thermal screening. #COVID2019 #CoronaVirus pic.twitter.com/7RTMVbOW5u

— ANI (@ANI) February 27, 2020

All of those who have returned are expected to undergo a 14-day quarantine like their previous batches to ensure that they are cleared of the COVID-19 virus.

India had operated two special Air India flights on February 1 and 2, and airlifted 647 Indian nationals, mostly students, and seven Maldivian nationals.

The latest IAF flight was cleared by China after allegations of delay were made by Indian officials.

This comes at a time when the death toll from coronavirus in China has reached 2,744. The number of confirmed cases are nearly 78,500.