The special Air India flight Boeing 777 with 12 crew members carrying 263 Indian students that took off from Rome has landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi airport on Sunday (March 22) morning as the Covid-19 cases in Italy continues to surge.

air india rome
All precautions are taken and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for handling passengers are being followed at the Delhi airport.Twitter/ANI

Compassionate cases depart for India

Indian Embassy in Italy took to Twitter saying: "263 Indian students and compassionate cases departed for India by special Air India flight from Rome fulfilling our commitment to ensure their safe return home. Sincere folded hands to Air India and Italian authorities."

On Thursday, the Indian government had confirmed that no international flights will land in India from March 22 onward for a period of one week.

READ: Janata Curfew Live Updates

The Indian embassy in Italy informed that it was assisting over 300 students of India stranded in the capital Rome and nearby areas amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"We are doing all that is possible within our limited resources, despite the current lock-down, to support and assist more than 300 Indian students in Rome and nearby areas. Their swab tests have been taken over the weekend and reports are awaited," the Indian Embassy tweeted amid the coronavirus outbreak that has infected almost 28,000 people in the European nation.

Earlier, the Government of India had reportedly evacuated more than 200 Indians, mostly students, from the Italian city of Milan.

The total number of cases in Italy rose to 53,578, while 4825 people have died from the disease -- the most outside of China.

According to the latest available data on the World Health Organisation (WHO) website, 2,66,000 people have been infected worldwide, while more than 11,000 have died from COVID-19 pandemic.

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