A health worker wearing protective suit collects a swab from a suspected COVID-19 patient at a hospital in Chennai, the capital city of India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, April 13, 2020.(Xinhua/Stringer)

Wuhan, the capital city of Central China's Hubei Province, on Monday reported 23 COVID-19 infections imported from India, all of whom were Indian nationals on the same flight. 

The 23 cases included four confirmed patients and 19 asymptomatic infections. They were all Indian nationals and are receiving medical treatment in Wuhan's Jinyintan Hospital, a major hospital dedicated to treating COVID-19 patients when Wuhan was hit the hardest by the epidemic early this year. 

They flew to Wuhan on flight AI1314 from New Delhi on October 30 and were quarantined upon arrival. Another 254 close contacts on the same flight are under medical observation. 

In response to media questions about whether flights from India will be affected due to the COVID-19 infections, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbing said China and India are in communication over subsequent temporary flight arrangements. 

Among the confirmed cases was a family of three. The 46-year-old mother, 45-year-old father and their 6-year-old son were diagnosed as COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms. Another patient, also an Indian national, tested positive for serological antibodies.

India became the second worst hit country in terms of coronavirus infections on Tuesday, reaching 8,267,623 after 38,301 cases in the last 24 hours, Hindustan Times reported.

Global Times