"Thank You For Sacrifice": Parents To Air India For Plane Dash To China

Parents of students who were brought to India from China, after the coronavirus outbreak, in a special flight have thanked the state-run carrier Air India. A specially-prepped Air India Boeing 747 that brought back Indians stranded in China's Wuhan landed in Delhi this morning. It flew to China with five doctors from Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and an Air India paramedic.

"A thousand thank you to Air India team for their sacrifice of going to Wuhan and bringing our children back. We are very grateful," Vijay Kumar, a pharmacist in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, told NDTV.

He and his wife, a banker, have had sleepless nights for a week. "We had to take leave from work because of the stress and worry. It's only now that there is a sense of relief. I can't explain how happy my daughter is that she has been taken out of Wuhan," Anitha Jasmine said. Her daughter, a medical student at Wuhan, is among the 300 Indians being evacuated from there.

All of them will be quarantined at an Army facility at Manesar, near Delhi, for two weeks and released if they show no symptoms of having contracted the deadly coronavirus.

"We have no problem with them being quarantined for two weeks in Manesar. It is very much required. Just the fact that they are back in India is enough. They are government's children, and they will be safe," Vijay Kumar told NDTV.

Most of the students who stayed back in Wuhan did so to prepare for their examinations. Many of them are from Kerala.

Over 1,400 people are under observation in Kerala; 50 have been admitted to isolation wards in hospitals across the state, while another 1,421 have been quarantined at home for at least 28 days.

"The condition of a young woman tested positive for coronavirus has improved. She is stable," Kerala Health Minister KK Shailja told media.

"Three people have been identified for spreading fake news about the coronavirus. A police case will be filed against them," the minister said.

The Indians are being screened at the airport by a joint team of Airport Health Authority (AHO) and Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS). Individuals suspected of infection will be shifted to an isolation ward at Base Hospital Delhi Cantonment (BHDC).