UK to evacuate its citizens from India amid COVID-19 spread
Coronavirus in London, UK
Even as global COVID-19 crisis spread, the UK is all set to evacuate its nationals from India with seven charter flights being announced from Goa, Mumbai and Delhi. While three flights will leave from Goa on April 8 10 and 12 respectively; the other two will leave from Mumbai and Delhi.
The acting British High Commissioner to India Jan Thompson in a statement said, "I hope this announcement will bring relief, especially to those in greatest need. Due to the large numbers of British travellers involved, the scale of this operation is huge. The UK Government continues to work hard with our Indian counterparts in New Delhi and London to arrange a safe journey back for as many people as possible."
Over 20,000 British nationals in India want to leave. An estimated 35,000 British Nationals are present in the country. On Saturday, an Irish flight carrying the vulnerable British nationals left Goa.
Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, British Foreign Office Minister of State had said, "In the absence of commercial flights, these first charter flights from India should provide relief to some of our British travellers who are desperate to return home, especially for the most vulnerable and those in greatest need."
Nationals of several nationalities are leaving India. Many Russian, German, French, Afghans, Israeli nationals have left India over the last few days.
After the global travel restrictions due to COVID-19 crisis, many nationals of foreign countries are stranded in various parts of the world.
India evacuated more than 2500 of its nationals from 4 countries, China, Japan, Iran and Italy.