Decision to bring Indians stranded abroad will be taken after reviewing COVID-19 situation: Govt

Over 20,400 foreign nationals have been evacuated from India amid the coronavirus crisis and any decision on bringing Indians from abroad will be taken at a later stage after reviewing the situation, the government said on Friday.

It also maintained that there is no community transmission in the country so far. A study by apex medical research body ICMR found that 40 people out of a total of 104 coronavirus patients with severe acute respiratory infection had contracted the infection without having any recent international travel history or contact with any confirmed cases of the disease.

Responding to a question over this study, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal told reporters, "No community transmission has happened in the country so far. If there would be, we would be first to tell you so as to alert people."
Addressing the daily press briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country, MEA Additional Secretary Dammu Ravi said, "There were requests from governments of several countries. We have successfully evacuated 20,473 foreign nationals as of yesterday."