The Union government today said that it has launched the process of evacuating Indian nationals stranded in China's Hubei province due to the coronavirus outbreak. "The Indian embassy in Beijing is working out the logistics, and is in touch with the Chinese authorities as well as our nationals on this matter. We will continue to share updates," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province and epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, has been placed under lockdown to prevent its spread to other parts of the world. Although over 500 Indians study in colleges and universities across Wuhan, some of them had left the city before the outbreak was reported. The number of students still stuck there is estimated at 250 to 300.
The Union government has asked those stranded to submit details of their passports to the Indian embassy in Beijing. Those who had submitted their passports to the Chinese authorities earlier for official reasons will need to provide information on who they handed the document to, along with the date of submission. The details are to be sent to an embassy official on the WeChat ID sondhi_0808, it added.