The government on Wednesday broke its silence over reports that 255 Indians who tested positive for the coronavirus are stranded in Iran, confirming in Parliament that they are among 276 infected nationals overseas.

This figure was tabled in the Lok Sabha in response to a specific question on the number of infected Indians overseas.

There are 12 infected Indians in the UAE, five in Italy and one each in Hong Kong, Kuwait, Rwanda and Sri Lanka, the government said.

Iran has reported the third largest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases (14,991) after China and Italy.

The affected Indians in Iran are pilgrims, mostly from Ladakh. On a month-long pilgrimage, they are currently in Qom, considered the religious capital of Iran.

According to one of the pilgrims, who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, there are about 800 of them in Qom, awaiting evacuation since February 28 when outbound flights were stopped.

About a dozen of the infected Indians have been admitted to hospital while the rest were staying in different hotels of Qom till Monday when the Iranian authorities began shifting them into a hostel.

New Delhi has decided not to evacuate infected nationals from anywhere unless they are cleared of the virus — expecting the host country to take care of them like India is taking care of foreign nationals who test positive here.

The Indians were tested by an Indian medical team sent as part of the evacuation process. The pilgrim said Iranian doctors do not think all those who tested positive are actually infected.

Another tour leader said the number of infected could be higher because the “positives and negatives” were put up together.