Hyderabad: Even as the Centre on Monday said it had decided that “steps may be taken to prepare for the possible evacuation of Indian nationals in Wuhan,” some Indians stuck in the epicentre of the novel coronavirus disease have expressed a sense of unease at the prospect of being herded into a large group and spending hours in an aeroplane for the flight back home to India.
Social media chat groups lit up in the evening in Wuhan with many of the 250-odd Indians in the Chinese city discussing the possibility of going home. The plan for the escape from the predicament they are in Wuhan soon emerged as a potential daunting prospect given the complicated logistics involved.
Indians in Wuhan that Deccan Chronicle spoke with on Monday evening expressed serious apprehensions at being grouped in an aircraft for the long journey back. “Right now, anyone can be a walking zombie. Even if one person is infected in the group, that person has the potential to infect at least 14 others. With nearly 250 people in a plane, that is a scary prospect. Do we take the chance of being exposed to the disease even if one is infected on the multiple legs of the journey,” one of them said.
In addition, the logistics required to bring back Indians in Wuhan and other smaller cities in the Hubei province could be mind-boggling. The local government will first have to approve bringing smaller groups of Indians, living in different parts of the city, together and allow vehicles that can carry these groups of people. Then there is the prospect of getting permissions for buses to transport the Indians to a nearby province from where they can be flown out that might involve a local flight before reaching an airport that allows international flights.
“Even if everything goes smoothly, when we land in India we will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine. It is not clear if any of the cities in India where the flight lands has such a facility,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government in Hubei is learnt to have informed the Indian embassy in Beijing that any person running out of food and other essential supplies can call two helpline numbers that were set up locally. Those calling these numbers will be provided with information where such supplies were available in the city for purchase.
