New Delhi, February 7: Union Minister for External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar on Friday informed the Rajya Sabha that almost 80 students are currently still in Wuhan and have been kept under observation. The MEA also stated that the 70 students chose not to get evacuated by the two flights and the ministry is in touch with all the students.

Addressing the Upper House of the Parliament, Jaishankar said, as quoted by news agency ANI "By our estimate, there are about 80 Indian students who are currently still in Wuhan. This includes 10 students who had come to the airport but were running fever so Chinese authority after screening did not allow them to board the flight." Adding on, he said, "70 of them chose to stay in Wuhan and not get evacuated by the two flights. The embassy is in touch with all the students and we regularly monitor their situation." Coronavirus in India: Chinese Ships' Crew, Passengers Barred From Mumbai Port.

Here's the ANI tweet:

Apart from this, the Union Minister also said that Indian flights were ready to evacuate the students and stranded people from neighbouring nations, but only seven nationals of Maldives chose to avail the offer. He said, "We were prepared to bring back not only our people but also those from all our neighbourhood who would have liked to. This was an offer which was made to all our neighbours but only 7 nationals of Maldives chose to avail the offer."

Among other information, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that India is providing technical help to the neigbours like Maldives, Afghanistan and Bhutan. He also said that Indian Council of Medical Research has offered to test samples for other southeast Asian countries. He said, "We are providing support to other countries in tackling the challenge posed by #Coronavirus. Indian Council of Medical Research has offered to test samples for other southeast Asian countries."

Earlier on Thursday, the crew and passengers of ships arriving from China or certain other South-East Asian countries have been barred from entering Mumbai port as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus. The Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) has also restricted the entry of crew and passengers who visited China in the past one month and banned all shore leave/excursions for them. Coronavirus Scare: India Bars Entry of Foreigners Who Have Been to China on or After January 15 by Air, Land or Sea.

It is to be known that India barred the entry of foreigners who have been to China on or after January 15 by air, land or seaport, including Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan, Indo-Bangladesh or Indo-Myanmar land borders. Also, the immigration official said that all the visas issued to Chinese passport holders and e-visas issued before February 5 have been suspended with immediate effect. As per to an ANI tweet, the restrictions are, however, not applicable to Chinese passport holders of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The death toll has jumped past 500 in China with more than 28,018 confirmed cases.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 07, 2020 06:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).