China 'deliberately delaying’ clearance for Indian flight to evacuate citizens: Report
New Delhi/IBNS: The Chinese authority is 'deliberately delaying' clearance for third Indian aircraft which is expected to bring back 100 Indian national from Coronavirus-hit Hubei province and also ferry medical and relief supplies to the nation, media reports said on Saturday.
India planned to send C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft to Wuhan on Friday.
However, the flight could not leave so far due to a lack of clearance from the Chinese side.
“The Chinese side is deliberately delaying the grant of clearance for the evacuation flight. They continued to maintain there is no delay even on Friday, the day the flight was supposed to go, but inexplicably the clearance has not been given,” a person who declined to be identified told Hindustan Times.
“These supplies have been offered even as India faces tremendous shortage itself, given our ethos of helping others, especially neighbours, in their hour of need,” said the person.
China is badly hit by coronavirus outbreak in recent months.
Chinese health authority Saturday said it received reports of 397 new confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection and 109 deaths on Friday from 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Xinhua reported.
Among the deaths, 106 were in Hubei Province and one in Hebei Province, Shanghai and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, respectively, according to the National Health Commission.
The virus has claimed over 2000 lives so far.
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