India had offered to evacuate people from all the neighbouring countries while bringing back Indian students from the Chinese city of Wuhan in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

The minister said that seven Maldives nationals chose to avail the offer during the evacuation carried out recently by Air India.

"At the time when two flights were going, we had told all the students and the larger community in Wuhan that we were not only prepared to bring back our own people but all the people in our neighbourhood who would like to return," Jaishankar said.

"It was an offer made to all our neighbours. But only seven nationals of the Maldives chose to avail the offer. The offer was made to everyone," he added.