US coordinating with India to bring back its stranded citizens

The Trump administration is coordinating with the Indian government to evacuate stranded American citizens from India who have expressed interest to return to the US, a top official in Washington has said, amid the rapid spread of coronavirus pandemic that has upended life, disrupted travel and killed over 37,500 people.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Ian Brownlee told reporters during a teleconference on Monday that the US had brought back some 25,000 of its citizens from 50 countries and another 9,000, including those from India, have expressed their interest to return to America in the wake of the deadly coronavirus pandemic that has engulfed the world.

"Now we are seeing growing interest from US citizens wanting to return from Asia, India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. We had our first repatriation flight out of Bangladesh today and are coordinating with the Indian Government to begin flights there," Brownlee said.