Coronavirus: Over 400 Wuhan evacuees quarantined at ITBP facility in Delhi discharged

The last batch of inmates quarantined at an Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) facility in the outskirts of the national capital after being evacuated from the novel coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan was discharged on Wednesday, February 19.

A total of 406 people at the ITBP facility have been discharged after being declared free of coronavirus by the doctors. The release of the inmates that began on Monday (February 17) ended today morning with the last departure of a family of six people.

The discharge process was started after the final coronavirus reports of all the 406 people living at the facility tested negative.

"Doctors manning our facility have sensitised the outgoing people to take certain measures of personal hygiene and self-isolation for a few days," ITBP spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey told news agency PTI.

READ | Here's how badly coronavirus outbreak has impacted global trade

A total of 650 people were brought back from Wuhan in China on February 1 and 2 in two 747 Boeing Air India aircraft after the outbreak of the coronavirus in that country.

While 406 of them were sent to the ITBP facility in the Chhawala area in the national capital, the rest were quarantined at an Army centre in Haryana's Manesar.

India's C-17 Globemaster to evacuate more Indians from Wuhan

Tomorrow i.e. on February 20, India will send a C-17 military transport aircraft to Wuhan to evacuate more Indians and deliver a consignment of medical supplies to China's coronavirus-hit people, official sources stated.

The C-17 Globemaster is the largest military aircraft in the Indian Air Force's inventory. The plane can carry large combat equipment, troops and humanitarian aid across long distances in all weather conditions.

With the death of 136 more people, the death toll from the coronavirus epidemic in China crossed the 2,000-mark today, while the overall confirmed cases climbed to 74,185.

(With agency inputs)