INS Jalashwa Reaches Male, to Start for Kochi on May 8
Indian Navy has dispatched ships to help evacuate Indians from abroad. Armed Forces have readied 6 quarantine facilities that can accommodate up to 2,100 people
INS Jalashwa, which set its sail to Maldives for evacuating stranded Indian nationals, reached Male on 7 May 2020. The ship will start for Kochi on 8 May 2020 with evacuee Indians. The INS Magar has also sailed to Maldives and is on the way to Male. The INS Airawat and INS Shardul are likely to proceed to Gulf region for evacuation of Indian nationals.
In addition to this the Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kesari has proceeded on deployment to Southern Indian Ocean Region from 6 May 2020 till 29 June 2020. The ship will visit Madagascar, Comoros, Maldives and Seychelles and will deliver 10-12 tonnes of medicines each to all these countries. It will also provide 660 tonnes of food grains to Maldives. Medical teams comprising of 14 personnel (eight doctors and six paramedics) and 13 personnel (four doctors and nine paramedics) have been dispatched to Mauritius and Comoros respectively.
Indian Armed Forces have dispatched Naval ships with medical teams and aid supplies to several countries in the IOR region.
In return journey, the Ships will bring back Indian national evacuees from this region.
Further, Armed Forces have kept in readiness six quarantine facilities that can accommodate up to 2,100 Indians being evacuated from several countries in coordination with the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The Indian National evacuees stranded due to COVID19 in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Malaysia will be housed in the quarantine facilities maintained by the three Services- Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force- in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Bhopal, Kochi, Vishakhapatnam and Chennai, a statement from the Defence Ministry read.
According to the statement, the evacuees will undergo mandatory quarantine as per the SOPs in the following quarantine facilities, run by the Army, Navy and Air Force after which further necessary action will be taken for their onward journey as per the approved SOPs.
Meanwhile, the Indian government will begin one of the biggest evacuation exercises: Vande Bharat Mission from 7 May 2020 to bring Indians stranded abroad. Over 14,800 stranded Indians will be brought back from 12 countries by Air India flights.