Air India special flight carrying 323 Indians, 7 Maldivians evacuated from Wuhan lands in Delhi

The second Air India special flight carrying 323 Indians and seven Maldivians evacuated from China's Wuhan, landed in New Delhi on Sunday morning, bringing the total number of Indians evacuated from the coronavirus-hit city to 647.

The special Air India flight took off from Wuhan at 3:10 am (IST) on Sunday.

In a tweet earlier today, Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for the evacuation of Maldivians from Wuhan - the epicenter of the new strain of coronavirus. Shahid added that all seven passengers will be housed in Delhi for a quarantine period.

"Seven Maldivians in Wuhan are on their way to Delhi on a special Air India flight. Upon arrival, they will be housed in Delhi for a period of quarantine. Deep gratitude to PM Narendra Modi and EM Dr. S Jaishankar. Special thanks to Ambassadors Vikram Misri and Sunjay Sudhir and their teams," Shahid tweeted.

The flight carrying the first batch of Indians had landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Saturday. Of the 324 passengers, three were minors and 211 were students.

The virus originated in Wuhan in December last year and has since then spread to various cities around the world.

Several countries including India have sped up the evacuation process after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak as a global health crisis.