Tasks involved collating the list of Indians over WeChat and emails, making transport arrangements for people from different cities amidst a lockdown, deploying officers in Wuhan and then bringing them safely on two Boeing 747s to Delhi.

With more than 150,000 cases of coronavirus being reported worldwide, India has taken the lead in the SAARC to formulate a joint strategy to deal with the public health crisis.

The efforts by the government began almost seven weeks ago. From evacuating Indians from China, Italy, Japan and Iran to round-the-clock monitoring by top officials in South Block, sending relief material to China and The Maldives, fielding calls from Indians in distress – the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian embassies have mobilised all its resources to address the Covid-19 situation since January, officials said.

“As part of the proactive pan-government approach to address the Covid-19 situation, MEA has been leading efforts to ensure the safety and well being of our nationals abroad, under challenging circumstances,” an official said on Saturday.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla are personally monitoring the situation. Jaishankar also travelled to Srinagar on March 9 and met with the families of Indian students in Iran and heard their concerns.

“A fully functional special cell has been set up in the Ministry to coordinate coronavirus response-related issues both internally and externally. The cell is being headed by Dammu Ravi, Additional Secretary, and has four officers and other staff to support him,” the official said.

The MEA has worked with the missions abroad to bring back Indian nationals from severely affected countries. The mission in Beijing worked round-the-clock to work out the necessary logistics during the evacuation from Wuhan. Tasks involved collating the list of Indians over WeChat and emails, making transport arrangements for people from different cities amidst a lockdown, deploying officers in Wuhan and then bringing them safely on two Boeing 747s to Delhi.

The Indian embassy in Japan also mounted evacuation operations on February 26 and 27, with Air India bringing back 119 Indians and five nationals from Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Peru who were quarantined onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship off the Japanese coast.

“Our Missions in Iran and Italy are in regular touch with Indian nationals, including Indian students and community members, and is advising them on following all health protocols amidst the outbreak. Medical team has reached both countries to test our nationals for the virus… Medical teams and the embassy staff are working to collect the samples,” another official said.

“Our mission/ posts in the US have been coordinating evacuation of Indian nationals quarantined onboard the cruise ship Grand Princess, docked at the port of Oakland,” the official said.

According to officials, the missions are also working to responding to queries from Indians nationals abroad. “Missions have set up their helplines and are proactively responding to queries over phone and emails as well as using social media platforms to reach the Indian community in these countries,” the official said.

As part of this effort, envoys from 130 countries were briefed by the government officials on Saturday.