Amid coronavirus scare, Noida-based man unable to send masks to son's family residing in Hong Kong

Amid the rising death toll due to coronavirus in China, president of Noida Medical Association, Anup Khanna has expressed helplessness over not being able to send masks for his son's family residing in Hong Kong.

Speaking to ANI, Khanna said, "I am worried about my son who is in Hong Kong with his family. We tried to send masks for them but the courier has returned it to us. We also tried to send them by airline but got to know that the export of any medical equipment has been banned."

"I have requested BJP MLA from Noida, Pankaj Singh and he assured me a solution," Khanna said.

According to Khanna, he also requested the central government to allow Indian families to send at least 10 masks to Hong Kong in a month.

Due to an epidemic breakout in China, the demand for masks has been increased.

In India, personal protection equipment including N95 masks has been prohibited by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) since January 31, 2020.

"DGFT vide Notification No. 44/2015-20 dated 31.01.2020 has prohibited the export of Personal Protection Equipments including Clothing and Masks with immediate effect," a tweet of DGFT read.

The confirmed cases of coronavirus in China have now surged past 20,000.

The virus originated in China's Wuhan city in December last year and has since 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.