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.