India tightens rules for Chinese visitors, infections cross 20,000
NEWDELHI: Existing visas for Chinese and foreign travellers who have been in China in the past two weeks stand cancelled, India clarified on Tuesday, while also announcing that aerobridges at dedicated gates at seven international airports will be used to screen passengers arriving from high-risk locations to contain the novel coronavirus (2019-ncov) outbreak that has killed 427 people and triggered a global scare.
Three men and two women, housed in a camp set up for Indians who have been evacuated from China, were moved to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday after they developed cough, fever and sore throat — symptoms of the fast-spreading virus that has infected over 20,000 people, including three in Kerala, across 25 countries.
“They have been shifted to the hospital for better observation... It’s just a precautionary shift, as their sample results are still awaited,” a spokesperson for the Indo-tibetan Border Police
(ITBP) said in a statement.
Over the weekend, India has brought back 647 citizens and seven Maldivians from Wuhan, the Chinese city considered to be the epicentre of the outbreak. Those rescued have been quarantined in two facilities — one in Haryana’s Manesar managed by the Indian Army and the other in the national capital’s Chhawla Camp managed by ITBP.
Biological samples of 160 of the evacuees have been tested so far. All have returned negative. One of the doctors on the Air India flights that brought the Indians back has developed a cough, but officials in the Union ministry of health said it was unlikely that the doctor had contracted the infection.
On Tuesday, China reported a record daily jump in deaths of 64 to 425, and Hong Kong saw its first coronavirus death. Total infections in mainland China stood at 20,438. Hong Kong’s first fatality was only the second outside mainland China, after last week’s death of a man in the Philippines.
The World Health Organization, which has declared the virus a global health emergency, said the outbreak does not yet constitute a “pandemic” and is at present “an epidemic with multiple foci”. Back in India, Union health secretary Preeti Sudan held a video conference with representatives of states and senior officials of the ministries of shipping, external affairs, civil aviation, tourism and home affairs to take stock of India’s preparedness. Sudan said flyers from highrisk locations such as China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore will have to pass through aerobridges at designated gates at the airports in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Cochin, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. “This is being done to ensure effective prevention,” she said.
Since January 17, altogether 777 flights and 89,500 passengers have been screened for symptoms at 21 airports. Such screenings are also being done at seaports and at international borders. Separately, India also confirmed tightening visa rules for Chinese and foreigners who had visited China in the last two weeks. “It is clarified that existing visas are no longer valid. Intending visitors to India should contact the Indian Embassy in Beijing (visa.beijing@mea.gov.in) or the Consulates in Shanghai (Ccons.shanghai@mea.gov.in) and Guangzhou (Visa.guangzhou@mea.gov.in) to apply afresh for an Indian visa. Indian Visa Application Centres (www.blsindia-china.com) in these cities may also be contacted in this regard,” the Indian Embassy in Beijing announced on Tuesday. “All those who are already in India [with regular or e-visa] and had travelled from China after January 15 are requested to contact the hotline number of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India (+91-11-23978046 and email: ncov2019@gmail.com),” it said.
On February 2, India temporarily suspended the e-visa facility for Chinese travellers and foreigners residing in China.
In a fresh statement, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said a total of 534 suspected cases have been tested till Tuesday, and that three have been found positive. All these cases were in Kerala and involved medical students studying in Wuhan, a business and educational hub in Hubei province that is now virtually quarantined. Two students, who returned from China on January 15 and were quarantined at home, believed to have left for the Gulf a couple of days ago, Kozhikode district medical officer V Jayasree said. “Our request to those under surveillance is they should remain in isolation at home during the incubation period of 28 days even if they do not have any symptoms, particularly those who have come from China,” she said.
The coronavirus is a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from common cold to acute respiratory syndromes, but the virus that is said to have originated from a seafood market in Wuhan is a new strain.