Samples of evacuees from Italy's Milan collected at ITBP camp

The samples of 218 evacuees from coronavirus-hit Italy's Milan, who landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Sunday morning and were shifted to the ITBP quarantine centre, have been collected by ITBP doctors.

New Delhi, March 15 The samples of 218 evacuees from coronavirus-hit Italy's Milan, who landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Sunday morning and were shifted to the ITBP quarantine centre, have been collected by ITBP doctors.

"The reports are expected by Monday late evening. The group includes 154 males and 64 females. These evacuees are mostly students studying in Italy," said an Indo-Tibetan Border Police spokesperson.

"All people are given all basic facilities required at the Centre as done with the previous lot of evacuees. Daily monitoring and checkups will also be undertaken by the ITBP medicos. The expected quarantine period is 14 days plus. If found negative, the second sampling will be done on the 14th day of quarantine period and if that also results as negative, then all these 218 persons will be released from the Centre," the ITBP said in a statement.

The ITBP has made emergency arrangements at the centre including beds for isolation and high-end ambulances.

Of the 218 evacuees, 211 are students and 7 are others, an official said.

Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan, in a series of tweets, said: "218 Ind including 211 students from Milan landed in Delhi. All will be quarantined for 14 days. GoI is committed to reach out to Ind in distress, wherever they are! Appreciate Govt. of Italy for their support and team @IndiainItaly @cgmilan1 @airindiain."

The persons, stranded in Milan, boarded a special flight of national carrier Air India, operated on a Boeing 787, sent by the government to evacuate stranded Ind due to coronavirus outbreak.

Before this batch, 518 people were kept in this ITBP Quarantine facility, Chhawla from February 1 to March 14, 2020 in different batches and were later released after testing negative for coronavirus.

( With inputs from IANS )