Coronavirus: India Suspends All Existing Tourist Visas
In an effort to halt the coronavirus spread, India has announced that all visas, barring a select few categories, will be suspended for a month.
Visa free travel afforded to overseas citizens of the country has also been suspended until April 15.
The move is expected to impact tourism, hotel and aviation industries in what will be more bad news for the slowing economy.
According to the health ministry, India has 73 confirmed cases of the virus.
This number is expected to grow in coming days, as the results for tests conducted earlier become available.
The advisory, issued on March 11, says that only diplomatic, official, employment and project visas will be exempt from the current restrictions, which take effect on March 13 and will be reviewed again in a month.
However, it has said that even those allowed in could be subject to 14 days of quarantine and has warned against “non-essential travel”.
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The health ministry says India was among the first countries in the world to prepare for an outbreak of the respiratory illness.
However, there are concerns about whether India will be fully equipped to prevent and treat an outbreak.
Officials in the southern state of Karnataka have invoked the provisions of a 123-year-old legislation to ensure that patients suspected to have shown symptoms of Covid-19 do not run away from being treated at hospitals or violate home quarantine norms.
The provision that has been invoked under the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 says that any person or organization or institution that violates the regulations will be prosecuted.
Karnataka was prompted to enact the legislation after a passenger from Dubai, who was tested at the Mangalore airport and was found to have mild fever, ran away from a government hospital where he was taken for observation.
The travel restrictions are also expected to badly hit several key sectors of India’s economy.
India’s leading domestic airline, IndiGo, has already said that it expects its quarterly earnings to be materially impacted because of the virus.
The car industry, which is a key economic indicator, has also warned that production could be badly hit as 10% of its raw materials come from China.
Moody’s also downgraded India’s expected growth to 5.3%.