COVID-19: 464 Russians evacuated from India amid nationwide lockdown

As many as 464 Russian nationals who were stranded in India amid the lockdown imposed in backdrop of coronavirus outbreak, were evacuated on Tuesday.

Among them, 388 people were evacuated by the Russian embassy here.

"Russian embassy has successfully facilitated transportation by special Aeroflot flight of about 388 Russian citizens who are stranded in India due to the lockdown," Evgeny Bereka, Press Secretary, Russia Embassy said.

Meanwhile, a charter flight arranged by a large Russian tour operator with the aim of bringing back its clients evacuated 126 Russian nationals from Goa.

The central government has banned the operations of international commercial passenger flights in India from March 22 to March 29.

"The operations of domestic scheduled commercial airlines shall cease with effect from midnight on March 24," the government said.

Till now, India has reported 562 positive cases of coronavirus, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.