Existing Indian visas held by Chinese nationals, and by foreigners who had been in China within the past two weeks, stopped being valid on Tuesday. The Indian Embassy in China said so in an announcement, as China’s reported coronavirus death toll climbed.
It was the second step in three days. On February 2, India had temporarily suspended its e-visa facility for Chinese travellers and for foreigners living in China, citing the outbreak in the central city of Wuhan.
Chinese health authorities said on Tuesday that deaths had risen to 425, including 64 on Monday, and that 20,438 people were infected.
What the embassy told travellers
The embassy and its consulates, it said, had been fielding questions from Chinese citizens and other foreign nationals about whether single or multiple entry visas they already held could still be used. The answer: “It is clarified that existing visas are no longer valid.”
Anyone who wants to travel to India now has to apply again. The embassy pointed applicants to its Beijing office or the consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou, and said the Indian Visa Application Centres in those cities could also help. Visitors can ask the visa section of the embassy or consulates to confirm whether a visa is valid before they set out.
People already in India, on a regular visa or an e-visa, who had travelled from China after January 15 were asked to call the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare hotline, +91-11-23978046, or write to [email protected].
Cases at home
The virus had by then reached more than 25 countries, India among them. India had reported three cases, all in patients from Kerala who had recently come back from Wuhan.
A group of 647 Indians and seven Maldivians evacuated from Wuhan and Hubei province were in a 14-day quarantine at a medical camp in Manesar, near Delhi.
Sources
Sources
- India tightens visa rules amid coronavirus outbreak | Khaleej Times
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