COVID-19: France in touch with India for evacuation of its 2000 nationals

The government of France is in talks with the Indian government for the evacuation of 2,000 French tourists who are stranded in the country due to nationwide lockdown, French diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

The sources said that the French mission was getting nearly 500 queries per day from French nationals who are stuck here.

They said around 11,500 French nationals were currently in India and the mission staff is working in full force through work from home, while the core team is operating out of the Embassy.

French diplomatic sources said they were planning to send about 2,000 French tourists back to France who are currently stuck in India.

They said they were also in talks with the Indian government to have special flights operated by Air France and were working out the necessary approvals for the same.

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.

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

Operations of domestic flights have been cancelled from midnight of March 24.