Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday conveyed to Chinese President Xi Jinping India’s readiness to provide assistance to the country in dealing with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
In a letter to Xi, Modi expressed solidarity with the President and people of China, while also expressing his appreciation for facilitating evacuation of over 650 Indian citizens from China’s Wuhan city, the epicentre of the outbreak.
A total of 811 people have died of the coronavirus infection in China so far while the number of confirmed cases has gone up to 37,198, according to the latest data released by Chinese authorities.
The virus has spread to almost every province in China as well as around 25 countries in the world, forcing the World Health Organization to declare it a global emergency.
In his letter to Xi, Modi offered India’s assistance to China to deal with the challenge and also conveyed condolences at the unfortunate loss of lives due to the outbreak, officials familiar with the matter said.
The prime minister also conveyed to Xi his appreciation for facilitating evacuation of around 650 Indian citizens from the Hubei province last week.
Later in the day, Chinese ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, appreciated the Prime Minister Modi’s “friendly message” in a Twitter post.
“Received condolence letter from Indian PM Narendra Modi to Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding #nCoV outbreak in China. Appreciate friendly message & kind support by Indian Government. Look forward to further cooperation & confident the epidemic will be brought to an end soon,” he said.
On February 1 and 2, the government evacuated its citizens from Wuhan. The evacuees are now at two quarantine facilities in Delhi and Manesar in Haryana.
Several countries have evacuated their citizens from China and restricted movement of people and goods to and from China. India too has put restrictions on the movement of people to and from China as part of precautionary measures to contain the spread of the virus.
India has put in place screening facilities at several airports, seaports and border check points with Nepal to detect any cases of coronavirus.
Three Indians – all of them in Kerala – have tested positive for the virus, prompting the Kerala government to declare a health emergency.
The step was later scaled down. Many families have been quarantined in the state and their health is being monitored daily.
In view of the outbreak, the government on Sunday also removed surgical masks and gloves from the list of banned export items.
Last month, the government had banned exports of all kinds of personal protection equipment, including clothing and masks used to protect people from air borne particles.
The move assumed significance as there could be a spurt in demand for such products due to the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.
“… items such as surgical masks/disposable masks and all gloves except NBR gloves are allowed freely for export,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.
However, it said that the export of all other personal protection equipment, including N-95 and other equipment accompanying masks and gloves shall remain prohibited for exports.
In an interview to news agency PTI, Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong had on Wednesday said China was ready to work with India to strengthen communication and coordination, and to safeguard the health and safety of Indian citizens in China.
Admitting that the outbreak could have short-term impact on China’s economy, he said the country’s internal resilience was growing and it had ample resources and policy tools to cope with the economic volatility.
