"How's the Josh," Lieutenant Colonel Manjunath asked the students camped in India Army quarantine base in Manesarand their reply was: "High Sir". It resonated across 10 barracks they were kept in after returning from China's Wuhan, the ground zero of coronavirus.

All 248 students kept at the quarantine base for the last 14 days will head home on Tuesday. Recalling the horrifying situation before they were airlifted and brought back, Sanjay, a student from Uttarakhand said: "The situation in China was critical.

"It was a complete lockdown there and we were not allowed to go out of our houses. We were locked in the room for days," Sanjay said.

"From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., we were not allowed to leave the premises back there. The Chinese authorities were disinfecting roads and the entire area," said Rohit Tyagi, a Ph.D. student of biological sciences at Huazhong Agriculture University.

They recalled that the symptoms were first seen in November but things were not clear on how serious the situation was. "Once the virus began to spread the government began to react and there were restrictions on movement and we were told to stay indoors," said another student.

They said the US and France were the first to react by ensuring their citizens were evacuated quickly and soon the Indian government also got them out.

The students thanked Indian authorities and the Indian Army for rescuing them.

Tyagi thanked the force and said that in the last 14 days we were at par with any other Indian soldier.