Mumbai: In wake of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to rescue Indians stranded in the country and provide them with immediate medical help and general assistance on priority.
“I voiced my concerns to S Jaishankarji, union minister of external affairs, concerning more than 40 Indian citizens stranded at Qom city in Iran. They are distressed and in urgent need of medical help and general assistance," Pawar tweeted.
Meanwhile, the government of India is working with the government of Iran to facilitate the evacuation of about 2,000 Indians stranded in Iran. Both the countries are also on the process of deporting about 2,000 Iranian nationals currently residing in India.
To ensure that Indians brought back from Iran are not affected with the virus, the government will be screening them.
India has sent a six-member team of scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to Iran to set up a makeshift laboratory so that people can be tested before flying back.
Until such a lab is set up, experts will be taking swab samples and sending them to India for testing. The team is in Tehran with equipment that is capable of testing at least 600 people.
