As many as 44 Indians stranded in COVID-19 coronavirus-hit Iran, landed at the Mumbai airport on Friday afternoon, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar informed and added that efforts were on to do the same for more stranded Indians in the country.

This is the second batch of India pilgrims to be brought back from Iran.

Second batch of 44 Indian pilgrims has arrived today from #Iran. Our efforts to bring back the others continue. @India_in_Iran and our medical team – keep up the good work. Appreciate the support of Iranian authorities and their airlines.

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— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) March 13, 2020

Iran is one of the worst-affected countries by the Coronavirus outbreak and the government has been working on plans to bring back Indians stranded there.

An official told PTI that the Iran Air flight landed at the Mumbai airport at around 12.08 pm.

The passengers would be taken to Jaisalmer on an Air India aircraft, another official said.

On Thursday, a Defence spokesperson said around 120 Indians would be brought to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan and quarantined at an Army facility there.

“They will be quarantined at an Indian Army facility created under the aegis of Southern Command. The patients will be transferred from the airport post their initial screening to the quarantine facility under escort of civil administration,” Defence Spokesperson Col Sombit Ghosh had said.

Additional Chief Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh had earlier in the day said that all the 44 had tested negative for Coronavirus. However, as per the protocol, they will be kept in isolation at the Army Hospital for 14 days.

Another batch of approximately 250 people being air evacuated from Iran on March 15 will also be landed and quarantined at the Army facility at Jaisalmer. The Army has also created quarantine facilities at Jodhpur and a number of other locations to assist the civil administration in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Defence has set up seven more quarantine facilities for Covid-19 patients, especially for Indian citizens being brought to back from coronavirus-hit countries. The facilities have been set up at Jaisalmer, Suratgadh, Jhansi, Jodhpur, Deolali, Kolkata and Chennai.

On March 10, the first batch of 58 Indian pilgrims stranded in Iran were brought back on Indian Air Force’s C-17 Globemaster aircraft.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Thursday, said there are over 6,000 Indians in various provinces of Iran.

Coronavirus outbreak is a matter of “great concern” and the government’s initial focus is to bring back Indian pilgrims stranded in Iran, he had said.

India engaged with China to safely evacuate its citizens and citizens of other friendly nations on a priority basis. Air India earlier operated two special flights for the evacuation of 654 passengers that included 647 Indian citizens.

So far, India has reported one death and 75 confirmed cases of novel Coronavirus.

As the Centre and the states ramped up their efforts to tackle novel coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to avoid non-essential travel.

The global death toll due to COVID-19 coronavirus has reached 4,947 in the outbreak that has spread to over 121 countries with more than 132,567 cases of infection.