Amid Lockdown, Foreign Embassies Worry About Stranded Tourists

Diplomatic missions are dealing with twin challenges of keeping staffsafe while ensuring their nationals are able to return, given the ban on commercial flights

- Suhasini Haidar

Germany is hoping to fly out the first batch of an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 tourists who have been stuck in India since the government banned commercial flights a week ago to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The special flights, starting on Wednesday and expected to operate all week, are being coordinated by an “embassy crisis centre” being run 24/7 at the Embassy in Delhi, which is registering all German tourists and travellers in India so as to evacuate them.

“As an act of solidarity in these difficult times, we are also taking some European Union citizens with us. We will keep on working to facilitate for all who want to fly back,” Germany’s Ambassador to India Walter Lindner told The Hindu.

Close to airports

In a video broadcast in German on social media on Tuesday, Mr. Lindner also told citizens that they should try and move to hotels near the Delhi airport in preparation for the flights.