In the letter, he said, since the situation in Wuhan was grave it would be appropriate to operate special flights to the area to airlift Indian nationals stranded there. He said among the stranded majority are students from the state.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his immediate intervention to evacuate Indians stranded in Coronavirus-hit Wuhan in central China. He asked the Union Government to send special flights to Wuhan to evacuate stranded people.
In the letter, he said, since the situation in Wuhan was grave it would be appropriate to operate special flights to the area to airlift Indian nationals stranded there. He said among the stranded majority are students from the state.
“It may be appropriate to consider operating a special flight to Wuhan/a nearby functional airport and airlift the Indian nationals stranded there and bring them back to India. I request you to give necessary instructions to the Indian Embassy in the People’s Republic of China to provide necessary assistance to them,” he wrote. Two days ago the CM had sent a similar letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
In Kerala, more than 500 people who returned from China, mostly students, businessmen and tourists were screened for the virus in the last three days and all of them tested negative. Since the incubation period of the virus is 28 days they have been asked to stay put in their houses and stop interaction with others. A team of doctors from Delhi visited Kochi and examined the preparedness of the state in case an emergency.
Prasanta Patnaik