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India Mounts Massive Operation to Evacuate Citizens Stranded Overseas

Anjana Pasricha

   NEW DELHI - India has launched the biggest evacuation of its citizens
   in decades, deploying aircraft and navy ships to bring home thousands
   of Indians stranded in foreign countries after it shut its borders and
   stopped all international commercial flights in March due to COVID-19.

   The operation is being carried out amid growing appeals from migrant
   workers, students and visitors overseas to be brought home amid
   lockdowns and restrictions imposed across countries battling the
   coronavirus pandemic.

   Their return poses a fresh challenge to India as it grapples with a
   surge in coronavirus cases -- health experts say the country's
   stringent six-week lockdown has not slowed the pace of infections,
   which now number nearly 53,000.

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