India to set up lab in Iran to test citizens for coronavirus before evacuation

India is
preparing to set up a make-shift laboratory in Iran to test 1,200 of its
citizens stuck in the country before evacuating them, officials said on
Wednesday. Those stranded in Iran are mostly students and pilgrims.

Four
scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research have reached Tehran, the
Iranian capital, with equipment and testing kits to facilitate mandatory
testing before the people board a plane to India.

India has so
far evacuated 881 people in batches from the outbreak city of Wuhan in China
and Japan.

In the first
batch, a total of 645 people were evacuated from Wuhan on February 1 and 2, and
were housed at two quarantine facilities at the Indian Army-run camp in
Haryana’s Manesar and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)-run Chhawla camp in the
outskirts of Delhi.

The ITBP
facility had housed 406 people, mostly families and women and seven Maldivian
nationals; and the remaining people were quarantined at the Manesar facility
for 15 days.

Another
batch of Indians and other foreign nationals were evacuated from Wuhan and
Diamond Princess cruise ship off the coast of Japan on February 26.

Three
Chinese women, who are married to Indians and their three children, are among
36 foreign nationals evacuated with 76 Indians from the outbreak city of Wuhan,
China, and placed under 14 day quarantine in the ITBP’s Chhawla facility.

Apart from
the Chinese nationals, the foreigners in the Chhawla camp are from Bangladesh
(23), Myanmar (2), Maldives (2), Madagascar (1), South Africa (1) and United
States (1). These people were evacuated on an Indian Air Force plane.