COVID-19: 58 Indians brought back from Iran

New Delhi, March 10 (IANS) First batch of 58 stranded Indians, including women and children, were brought back from coronavirus-hit Iran in a C-17 Globemaster military aircraft on Tuesday, officials said.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft landed with the Indians at Hindon air base in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh on early Tuesday.

The evacuated Indians were being assisted by an IAF medical team and support staff onboard the aircraft which left from Tehran with them for the humanitarian assistance mission.

The Indians will be sent to selected quarantine camps soon after their medical observation and they will be kept there under observation for next 15 days, a government official told IANS.

India on Monday night sent C-17 Globemaster to evacuate the Indians. The aircraft took off at around 8 p.m. from Hindon air base on Monday. Indian government has began the evacuation operations from several countries in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak which spread from Wuhan city in Hubei province of China -- the epicenter of the COVID-19.

India engaged with China to safely evacuate its citizens and citizens of other friendly nations on a priority basis. Air India earlier operated two special flights for the evacuation of 654 passengers that included 647 Indian citizens.