Father of 24-yr-old stuck on Coronavirus hit Diamond Princess writes letter to PM Modi

The father of a 24-year-old woman, who has been stuck on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to evacuate his daughter. Taking to Twitter, his father has also shared videos of her daughter urging PM Modi and Indian government for evacuation. "My daughter has tested negative for coronavirus and has been quarantined in a small room for the past 15 days," he wrote. His daughter is a member of the cruise ship's security.

The Indian Embassy in Japan on Wednesday took to Twitter and announced that the one Indian national who was tested positive for Coronavirus has been shifted to a hospital. The Embassy further said that all the Indians who are receiving treatment are responding well. Starting to disembark passengers, the Embassy said that it will continue till February 21. As per Japan's health ministry, the total number of infected onboard the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess has risen to 454 after Japan recently announced 88 more cases on the ship. According to reports, Japan's health ministry was carrying out tests on passengers and crews that are on the ship.

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India evacuated 650 citizens

Earlier this month, India had evacuated over 650 of its citizens from Wuhan in two 747 Boeing Air India aircraft. Yet, an unknown number of Indians remain in the area and their number is being ascertained, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday. While 406 of these are being looked after at the quarantine ITBP facility, rest are at an Army center at Manesar in Haryana. The Indian Embassy in Beijing estimates more than 50,000 Indian citizens to have been working in mainland China as of early 2019.

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Coronavirus and its outbreak

The outbreak of the deadly virus took place in China's Wuhan in January. While the Chinese doctor, reprimanded by police after warning colleagues about the disease, died after falling ill, countries have started evacuating their citizens from China and have been issuing travel advisory. The virus was officially named 'COVID-19' at a conference in Geneva held by the World Health Organisation, and was declared a 'global public health emergency'. 

India in February, evacuated 645 people from Hubei, the province worst-hit by the coronavirus. People were lodged at the quarantine facilities set up by the Army and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in and around Delhi, and the Union Health Ministry last week informed that they have been tested negative. India has also reported three confirmed cases from Kerala. While the worldwide death toll due to coronavirus is 2,362, there are currently 77,924 confirmed cases in 32 countries and territories.

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