As the death toll from the novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) surged past 1,011 in mainland China on Tuesday, after hard-hit Hubei province reported 103 new deaths, an Indian associate professor from Uttar Pradesh’s Etah district, who is stranded in Wuhan, has been requesting the Centre to immediately evacuate him and his wife along with 23 other Indians from the Chinese city which is the epicentre of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The 35-year-old Ashish Yadav, who works at the Wuhan Textile University, and his wife Neha (30), currently pursuing a PhD in computer science, have been in touch with their families in Uttar Pradesh by sending them a video message almost daily.

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The family of the couple said, “Since Neha underwent a minor surgery in the last week of January, she was advised complete bed rest by doctors for a week. Therefore, they could not board the evacuation flight on the night of January 31.”

There are 23 other Indian nationals in Wuhan, including students and working professionals. All of them are ready to pay the expenses to return home. They are regularly sending distress message to every possible authority for help, but there has been no response so far.

In a message to her family, Neha said, “We alerted the Indian embassy about our situation. Before the January 22 lockdown of Wuhan, we were told that since the coronavirus incubation period is just 14 days, the situation will normalise by first week of February. But the situation has now become critical.”

She added, “Just four days ago, the university authorities sent a team of 15 men, including policemen, doctors and nursing assistants, who inspected our health parameters, and warned us to get hospitalised if our body temperature rose above 37.5 degrees.”

The couple has sent a letter, asking the authorities in Wuhan to allow them to travel to the airport to board a flight to India.

But Wuhan authorities were demanding a direct call or an intervention by the Indian Ambassador or the External Affairs Ministry to allow them to travel.

The couple was married in November 2018 and exactly a year later, Neha moved to Wuhan.

India had airlifted a total of 640 Indian students and seven Maldivian students from Wuhan on Saturday and Sunday in a complex evacuation operation.

The new death toll has surpassed the global fatalities in the 2002-03 SARS epidemic, even as the World Health Organization said the outbreak appeared to be “stabilising”.

Over 770 people had died worldwide during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak.

The Coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus in China is a novel strain and not seen before. The deadly virus has spread to more than 25 countries.