Coronavirus: Air India plane to leave for Beijing to evacuate Indians

Air India's 423-seater jumbo B747 plane will depart from Delhi airport at 12.30 pm on Friday to Beijing to evacuate Indian nationals who are in China as the neighbouring country deals with novel Coronavirus outbreak.

"The B747 plane is all set to depart from Delhi at 12.30 pm. It came from Mumbai on Friday morning only," said a senior airline official.

The government has reached out to over 600 Indians living in China's Hubei province, the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak, to ascertain their willingness to be brought back to India.

The death toll in China's novel coronavirus outbreak on Friday climbed to 213 with the number of confirmed cases totalling to 9,692. Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 5,806 confirmed cases, including 204 deaths.