India has evacuated 124 people, both Indians and foreigners, from the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship, which is still stranded near Japan's Yokohama port due to the rising number of infection cases, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Thursday
NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th February, 2020) India has evacuated 124 people, both Indians and foreigners, from the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship, which is still stranded near Japan's Yokohama port due to the rising number of infection cases, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Thursday.
Countries started evacuating their citizens from the ship last week, after the two-week quarantine was lifted on February 19. According to the Japanese NHK tv channel, a total of 700 passengers and crew members have tested positive for the disease as of Wednesday.
"Air India flight has just landed in Delhi from Tokyo,carrying 119 Indians & 5 nationals from Sri Lanka,Nepal, South Africa&Peru who were quarantined onboard the #DiamondPrincess due to #COVID19. Appreciate the facilitation of Japanese authorities. Thank you @airindiain once again," Jaishankar wrote on Twitter.
At the same time, a total of 122 Indian and foreign nationals have been returned from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic, the minister added.
"On its return from Wuhan, the IAF flight has brought back 76 Indians & 36 nationals from 7 countries - Bangladesh, Myanmar, Maldives, China, South Africa, USA and Madagascar. Appreciate facilitation by Chinese government," Jaishankar wrote on Twitter.
In early February, the country sent two planes to Wuhan to evacuate 640 people.
To date, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been detected in over 82,000 people worldwide and killed 2,800 patients. More than 32,800 patients have recovered.
