<p>With the death-toll due to novel Coronavirus outbreak in China going up to 425, New Delhi has cancelled all visas issued to the citizens of the communist country for travelling to India.</p>.<p>“Embassy and our Consulates have been receiving several queries from Chinese citizens as well as other foreign nationals, who are based out of China or visited China in the last two weeks, as to whether they can use their valid single or multiple entry visas to travel to India,” the Embassy of India in Beijing posted on Twitter, adding: “It is clarified that existing visas are no longer valid.”</p>.<p>At least 64 more people died at the epicentre of the outbreak in Hubei province of China on Monday. Altogether 3,235 new confirmed cases were reported from across China, taking the number of those infected with the deadly disease to 20,438 in the communist country.</p>.<p>New Delhi advised citizens of China to contact Embassy of India in Beijing or the consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou to “apply afresh” for visa to travel to India.</p>.<p>“All those who are already in India (with regular or e-visa) and had traveled from China after January 15 are requested to contact the hotline number of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India,” the Embassy of India in Beijing posted on Twitter.</p>.<p>With India cancelling the visas issued to Chinese nationals, representatives of the Chinese governments and companies would not be participating in the biennial military exposition Def-Expo, 2020 that would kick start in Lucknow on Wednesday.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan on Tuesday reviewed the preparedness situation with officials from other ministries as well as state health departments.</p>.<p>For effective prevention, it has now been decided to earmark aerobridges at specific gates at seven international airports (Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Cochin, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai) to screen passengers from China, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong for novel coronavirus.</p>.<p>While the Ministry of Tourism coordinates with the hotel associations for wider self-reporting by travellers, states bordering Nepal have increased their surveillance and awareness campaign.</p>.<p>So far 89,500 passengers were screened at 21 airports. As on Feb 4, as many as 534 suspected cases have been tested out of which three have been found positive. Of the tested samples, 160 are from the quarantine centres set up for the individuals evacuated from Wuhan. Also 3,935 passengers are under community surveillance in 29 States and union territories.</p>.<p>New Delhi already airlifted 647 Indian nationals from the Ground Zero of the outbreak. </p>
<p>With the death-toll due to novel Coronavirus outbreak in China going up to 425, New Delhi has cancelled all visas issued to the citizens of the communist country for travelling to India.</p>.<p>“Embassy and our Consulates have been receiving several queries from Chinese citizens as well as other foreign nationals, who are based out of China or visited China in the last two weeks, as to whether they can use their valid single or multiple entry visas to travel to India,” the Embassy of India in Beijing posted on Twitter, adding: “It is clarified that existing visas are no longer valid.”</p>.<p>At least 64 more people died at the epicentre of the outbreak in Hubei province of China on Monday. Altogether 3,235 new confirmed cases were reported from across China, taking the number of those infected with the deadly disease to 20,438 in the communist country.</p>.<p>New Delhi advised citizens of China to contact Embassy of India in Beijing or the consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou to “apply afresh” for visa to travel to India.</p>.<p>“All those who are already in India (with regular or e-visa) and had traveled from China after January 15 are requested to contact the hotline number of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India,” the Embassy of India in Beijing posted on Twitter.</p>.<p>With India cancelling the visas issued to Chinese nationals, representatives of the Chinese governments and companies would not be participating in the biennial military exposition Def-Expo, 2020 that would kick start in Lucknow on Wednesday.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan on Tuesday reviewed the preparedness situation with officials from other ministries as well as state health departments.</p>.<p>For effective prevention, it has now been decided to earmark aerobridges at specific gates at seven international airports (Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Cochin, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai) to screen passengers from China, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong for novel coronavirus.</p>.<p>While the Ministry of Tourism coordinates with the hotel associations for wider self-reporting by travellers, states bordering Nepal have increased their surveillance and awareness campaign.</p>.<p>So far 89,500 passengers were screened at 21 airports. As on Feb 4, as many as 534 suspected cases have been tested out of which three have been found positive. Of the tested samples, 160 are from the quarantine centres set up for the individuals evacuated from Wuhan. Also 3,935 passengers are under community surveillance in 29 States and union territories.</p>.<p>New Delhi already airlifted 647 Indian nationals from the Ground Zero of the outbreak. </p>
