India, Bangladesh eye evacuating citizens from China coronavirus epicentre

NEW DELHI (Reuters): India and Bangladesh said on Tuesday they are working on evacuating their citizens from China’s Wuhan, the epicentre of a new coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 100 people.

Indian state airline Air India was on standby to evacuate an estimated 250 Indians from Wuhan in Hubei province, local media reported earlier.

“We have begun the process to prepare for evacuation of Indian nationals affected by the situation arising out of Corona-2019 virus outbreak in Hubei Province, China,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet. He said Indian authorities were working out the logistics of moving people out of the city of 11 million people that is under a lockdown.

In Bangladesh, Foreign Minister Abdul Momen said talks were underway to bring back Bangladeshi citizens from China.

The death toll from the virus rose to 106 on Tuesday as authorities scrambled globally to curb its spread and U.S. health authorities advised travellers to avoid all non-essential travel to China. A growing number of countries have said they will evacuate their citizens from Wuhan. The virus has infected thousands of people in China and spread to more than a dozen countries, including the United States.

There are no confirmed cases of the virus yet in India, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Tuesday, adding authorities were screening suspected patients in multiple cities. All hospitals had been asked to keep those suspected to have the virus in isolation wards, he added.

No one in Bangladesh has been found to have the virus yet either, Bangladeshi Health Minister Zahid Maleque told reporter, but the government was prepared if infections surfaced.

More than 400 Bangladeshi citizens, mostly students, are stranded in Wuhan under the lockdown. Many took to social media to urge Bangladeshi authorities to evacuate them.