All 112 persons — 76 Indians and 36 foreign nationals — who were evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan earlier this week and were housed at an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) quarantine facility have tested negative for novel coronavirus based on their first samples.
A spokesperson for ITBP said that all the samples were sent to AIIMS and the conclusion of the reports is negative. However, the quarantine period will continue for nearly a fortnight.
Immediately upon their arrival in New Delhi on Thursday from Wuhan on an IAF transport plane, the evacuees were sent to the quarantine facility managed by ITBP in Chhawla.
The second sampling will be done on the 14th day of the quarantine period, and if the results are found negative, these people would be released from the facility.
The group of foreign nationals compromises 23 Bangladeshi nationals, six from China, two each from Mynamar and Maldives, and one each from South Africa, the US and Madagascar.
Earlier, India had similarly evacuated nearly 650 Indians from Wuhan onboard two Air India flights. Those people were also kept at the same facility and another at Manesar, which was prepared by the Indian Army.
All these people later tested negative for the virus and were allowed to leave the facilities following similar procedure.