The government of India has decided to fly a special IAF C-17 Globemaster at 8 pm IST to the Iranian capital city of Tehran on Monday. A military transport aircraft, the C-17 Globemaster is being used to evacuate Indians stranded in coronavirus-affected Iran. At present, there are about 2,000 Indians living in Iran.

The aircraft took flight from Hindon Airport in Ghaziabad. A medical team and support staff is onboard the flight. It will return with evacuated Indians on March 20.

#WATCH Ghaziabad: Indian Air Force's C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft has left for Iran, from Hindon Air Force Station, to bring back Indians citizens stuck there amid #CoronavirusOutbreak pic.twitter.com/AR7SGY3Qdm ANI (@ANI) March 9, 2020

The Indian Air Force has a fleet of 11 C-17 Globemaster IIIs. The largest military aircraft in the Indian Air Force's inventory, C-17 Globemaster is also used by the US Air Force as its primary strategic lift aircraft for the global transportation of both troops and equipment.

This will be the second such evacuation initiated by the Indian government in the last two weeks. As many as 76 Indians and 36 foreign nationals were brought back via an IAF flight from Wuhan city in China on February 27. Similarly, a Mahan airplane was used to bring back swab samples from Iran to India on March 6.

On Monday, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan told media outlets that the government of India has sent scientists and mobile-laboratories to Iran. These scientists are waiting for custom clearance to start working. Right now, we are bringing samples from there and when the report of that sample will come negative, we will bring them (Indians in Iran) back, said Dr Harsh Vardhan.

Wing Commander Karan Kapoor, Captain of C-17 Globemaster: We plan to depart Hindon Air Force Station at 8:30pm&land in Tehran at about 2 am.We will depart Tehran at about 4:30 am&land back here at about 09:30 am. Facilities to quarantine the passengers have been set up at Hindon. https://t.co/pWDCz0uXSF pic.twitter.com/8OUjii04OI ANI (@ANI) March 9, 2020

As of March 9, the Indian Health Ministry has confirmed 40 active cases of Covid-19 in the country. A number of those infected with the virus have travel history from Iran where coronavirus-related deaths have crossed the 230-mark with 43 new cases being detected on Monday itself. While the total cases have surpassed 7,100, the government of Iran is struggling to get a handle on the outbreak.

Iran's judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi on Monday revealed that the government has decided to free approximately 70,000 prisoners. owing to the Covid-19 outbreak. This development comes at a time when the number of positive cases of coronavirus crossed 110,000 across the globe.

(With inputs from Manjeet Singh Negi)