Coronavirus: MEA informed about students from Guj in China

The Gujarat government has shared with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Indian Embassy in China the information about over 200 students from the state, who are currently in China and want to return after the outbreak of novel coronavirus in that country, officials said on Friday.

The State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) in Gujarat has collected and shared the information about such students and other people from the state living in China.

"The SEOC control room in Gandhinagar has shared the details of 215 persons, mostly students, with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in China to help authorities in bringing them back," SOEC Deputy Collector Trupti Vyas said.

"We had received phone calls from the parents and relatives of 215 persons, mostly students. The parents had inquired about various aspects of the steps being taken by the government to bring the students back, about the airline booking, connecting flights and other things," Vyas said.

All of the parents were given contact numbers of the Indian embassy in China for any other inquiry about their children.

According to officials, no case of coronavirus has been found in the state so far.

Novel coronavirus belongs to the coronavirus family that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes. It has emerged from a seafood and animal market in Wuhan city of China and is suspected to have spread as far as the United States.