Coronavirus: 218 evacuated from Italy sent to ITBP quarantine

A total of 218 Indians, mostly students, brought here from Italy on Sunday have been taken to an ITBP quarantine facility in south-west Delhi's Chhawla area, officials said. The Air India flight from Milan landed around 9.45 am at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).

Out of the total Indian nationals in this group, 211 are students. "All the 218 evacuees from Milan are being taken to our quarantine facility in southwest Delhi's Chhawla area. They will be there for over a fortnight as per quarantine procedures," an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) spokesperson said.

The facility has earlier catered to two such batches of Indians and foreigners, evacuated from Wuhan in China, totaling 518 people. The ITBP center, like in the past, will have a dedicated team of doctors, paramedics and other staff apart from providing food, medical testing and indoor entertainment facility to the inmates, the spokesperson said.

The coronavirus outbreak, declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday, has led to more than 5,000 deaths globally. The government has suspended all visas, barring a few categories like diplomatic and employment, in an attempt to prevent the spread of coronavirus as cases across India rose to more than 90.