India brings back 11.23 lakh nationals stranded abroad under Vande Bharat Mission

In the ongoing Phase 5 of VBM around 500 international flights and 130 domestic feeders have been operated so far from 22 different countries and reaching 23 airports across India.

Around 375 more international flights are scheduled to be operated by the end of August 2020.

"Based on a continuous assessment of demand received from our Missions / Posts abroad, flights have been added for repatriation from Kuwait, Maldives, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Australia, UK and Canada," MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said while interacting with media.

In addition, the number of flights from other GCC countries have been further augmented.

On the bilateral air bubbles, arrangements with US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, UAE, Qatar and Maldives are functioning well. 

"You would have seen the announcement by Minister of Civil Aviation earlier this week that negotiations on air travel arrangements with 18 more countries viz. Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka are ongoing. This will benefit stranded Indians and nationals of these countries," Srivastava said.