The third hotline opened for 250-odd Indian students and other citizens caught in the coronavirus-induced lockdown in Wuhan. As china offered to evacuate Americans stranded there, hopes for a similar arrangement for Indians.

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No official confirmation yet, but the government believed to have requested China authorities to enable evacuation of Indian students.

The supplementary hotline opened for a “large number” of phone calls. Phone calls that the Indian embassy in Beijing has been receiving from Indians at Wuhan in Hubei province (the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak).

Additional to two hotline numbers,+8618612083629 and +8618612083617, the third hotline has been set up. The embassy said in a tweet, “In view of a large number of calls received on the two hotline numbers set up by the Embassy of India in Beijing in connection with the outbreak of coronavirus infection, the embassy has decided to open a third hotline number +8618610952903.”

The embassy also said, Over the last two days, our hotlines have fielded nearly 600 calls to respond to concerns regarding this difficult situation. The government and the embassy in Beijing are also examining all options, including through consultations with Chinese authorities, to provide relief to our affected citizens.”

Foreign minister S Jaishankar said in a tweet, India was closely monitoring the situation in Wuhan. “Our embassy in Beijing is constantly checking on the health and well-being of the Indians in China. Please follow @EOIBeijing for more updates on the situation.”

An estimate of about 700 Indian students studying in universities in Wuhan and its nearby areas. The majority says most of them have left Wuhan and other areas of Hubei province during the Chinese New Year holidays. The remaining stayed back unknown to that Wuhan and 12 other cities would be sealed off. As to stop the coronavirus outbreak from spreading.

Vikram Misri India’s ambassador to China said, “As of now, we understand that no Indian citizen has been affected by the outbreak and food and water supplies are available to them.”

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