Sixteen German nationals who were in Mysuru to learn yoga will head back home following an initiative by the German government to evacuate all its nationals stranded in India which is on a COVID-19 lockdown for 21 days since Wednesday.
H.P. Janardhan, Deputy Director of Tourism, confirmed that the local authorities received a communique from the office of the Consulate General of Germany in Bengaluru that 18 of its nationals were in Mysuru and it wanted to evacuate them.
They were in India from the last three months or more and were identified and brought to Kalamandira in the city for a medical check-up on Friday morning. None of them displayed any symptoms of COVID-19 and their blood tests too turned out to be negative.
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They were taken in a special bus on Friday afternoon to Bengaluru from where they will fly back to their country. Mr. Janardhan said that two German nationals had already flown back before the ban on international flights came into effect. There are a few more German citizens in different parts of south India all of whom would be brought to Bengaluru for their onward flight to Germany, he added.
The Tourism Department handled their departure from Mysuru to Bengaluru and a special bus was pressed into service with a COVID-19 sticker on it to enable a hassle-free journey. Though international flights, both to and from India, have been banned to curb the possible spread of COVID-19, many countries are making efforts to evacuate their nationals stranded in India by arranging special flights out of the country.