Rattled by the reports of around 22 Indians affected with Coronavirus (CoV) in China, India is understood to have requested China to permit over 250 Indian students stuck in Wuhan, the epicentre of CoV to leave the city, sources said on Saturday.

Authorities have prevented anyone from leaving Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the heart of the viral outbreak which has so far infected nearly 1,300 people and killed 41 others.

About 700 Indian students, mostly medicos are believed to be studying in different universities in Wuhan and its surrounding areas. While majority of the Indian students left for home on Chinese New Year holidays, over 250 to 300 students are said to be still in the city and its surrounding areas. The fast spreading virus has become a major worry for their parents back home.

Some students managed to leave the city just before it was sealed off on January 23. India has stepped up monitoring of passengers arriving from China, especially from Wuhan.

The sources told news agency PTI  that in view of the prevailing situation, India has requested both the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the local officials in Wuhan to consider making arrangements for the Indian students to leave.

Asked whether China would consider any request of countries to move their citizens out of Wuhan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media here on Thursday that, “We always help foreign consular officials in China in their official jobs, we offer them all the assistance and convenience necessary and we work to guarantee foreign citizens’ legitimate rights and interest in China”.

While specific detailed would be provided by local officials, he said China in principle always handles issues according to domestic laws, international laws and bilateral consular agreements.

Authorities have extended transport bans to 17 other cities around Wuhan in an effort to control the SARS-like virus, restricting travel for around 56 million in Hubei province.

On Saturday, the city officials have also banned all private transport in the city as part of stepped up measures to ensure little movement in the city.

While India has earlier issued travel advisories to Indians travelling to China in view of the coronavirus, the Indian Embassy in the last few days has set up hotlines for the students in Wuhan to extend assistance and has talked to local officials about proper supply of food and other necessities for them.

Several agencies based in Kolkata and other cities in India send a large number of students to different universities in China for the undergraduate medical courses every year at cheaper fees as compared to private medical colleges across states in the country. The health department also plans to keep watch on these agencies in the state seeking to know about the number of students studying medical courses in China, sources said.

Meanwhile, eleven people — seven in Kerala, two in Mumbai and one each in Bengaluru and Hyderabad — who are among thousands of passengers who returned from China in the recent days are under observation in hospitals to check for possible exposure to the deadly novel Coronavirus, central and state officials said on Friday.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed that of these 11 people, two, who were being monitored in a Mumbai hospital, and one each from Bengaluru and Hyderabad have tested negative.

One of the Mumbai patients has tested positive for Rhinovirus, a routine common cold virus, it said.

The government has also issued a travel advisory asking citizens travelling to and from China to follow certain precautionary measures.

Majority of the cases has been reported from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, where a seafood market that illegally sold wild animals has been identified as the epicentre of the outbreak.

The coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus in China is a novel strain and not seen before.

The virus has spread rapidly leaving 41 dead in China with the number of confirmed cases leaping to 1300 by the end of Friday. At least 237 people out of the infected are critical.

The Coronavirus has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

(With PTI inputs)