263 Indians Brought Back From Italy

An Air India special flight brought back 263 Indians, most of whom are students, from Rome on Sunday as the death toll in Italy from coronavirus pandemic neared 5,000.

They were stranded in Rome after India banned flights from affected countries. The government has now banned international flights from landing in India from March 22 for a week.

This is the second batch of Indians evacuated from Italy. Earlier, as many as 218 Indians were evacuated from the Italian city of Milan.

“All the 263 people are being taken to our quarantine center in Chhawla area of south-west Delhi after thermal screening and immigration at the tarmac,” an ITBP spokesperson said.

The Indian embassy in Italy had been in constant touch with Indians in the country and had coordinated their evacuation. Italy is the worst-affected country in the world with 4,825 deaths reported so far and confirmed 53,578 coronavirus positive cases.

Another batch of 83 Indians was evacuated from Italy on March 11. They have been kept at Army’s Manesar quarantine facility. After that, 218 people were evacuated from Italy’s Milan on March 15. They include 211 students and 7 compassionate cases who were evacuated through an Air India flight. They all have been kept at the Indo-Tibetan Border Police’s quarantine facility.