AnIranian Mahan Air flight will bring the swab samples of 300 Indians to betested for Covid-19 to New Delhi by Saturday afternoon before they are clearedfor their return home.
Indiais also working with the government of Iran to facilitate the evacuation ofabout 2,000 Indians stranded in Iran, and sending back about 2,000 Iraniannationals currently in India. The government is making arrangements to assaytheir test samples to ensure that the Indians brought back from Iran are freefrom the virus.
Civilaviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri, while addressing a press conference saidthat it is a difficult task but they are working with the government of Iran onthis to see how citizens from both sides reach their destination safely.
Indiahas sent a six-member team of scientists from the Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) to Iran to set up a makeshift laboratory so that people can betested before flying back.
Until such a lab is set up, experts will be takingswab samples and sending them to India for testing.
The team is in Tehran with equipment that is capableof testing at least 600 people.
However, the government said that the Indians whosesamples test positive will not be allowed to board the flight home, but thosewho test negative are likely to stay under home quarantine for at least 14days.
