Coronavirus : Iran rejects reports of deportation of Indians

Tehran has rejected reports about the deportation of Indians from Iran amid the coronavirus outbreak.

"The Iranian embassy while rejecting some false reports about the deportation of Indian citizens from Iran due to possible coronavirus infection, ensures that Indians have always been respected and warmly welcomed by Iranian people and the government and such reports are nothing than baseless allegations," Iranian Embassy in Delhi said on Friday.

Further, it added that the first Iranian flight carrying sample swabs of stranded Indian citizens will leave Tehran IKIA Airport hopefully early morning on March 7 to New Delhi and in return, it will bring back Iranian nationals to their homeland.

Stating that Iran also responded positively to cooperate with India in testing its citizens stuck in the country before their evacuation, the official statement said: "Accordingly the Embassy of Iran in New Delhi facilitated and issued expeditiously the visa for the visit of 6 experts from the Indian Council of Medical Research and Ministry of Health of India to Tehran and took the necessary steps to fulfill their mission."

"Both countries will continue their close contacts to ensure finding necessary remedies to alleviate the sufferings of all the stranded nationals including tourists, students, and businessmen in the current critical situation which requires globally coordinated actions," read the statement.

It also added that the Indian citizens with no symptoms of the virus will be transferred to India and those whose medical test results are positive will be hospitalized in one of the advanced special medical centers designated by the Ministry of Health of Iran.

The number of confirmed coronavirus infections globally has surpassed 101,000, with more than 3,400 deaths and 55,800 recoveries.