Coronavirus: Visas Issued To Chinese Passport Holders Suspended, No Entry For Foreigners Who Visited China After Jan 15

All visas issued to Chinese passport holders coming from anywhere in the world, including regular and e-visa issued before 5 February, have been suspended with immediate effect in view of the novel coronavirus outbreak, new agency ANI reported quoting immigration officials. However, these restrictions will not be applicable to Chinese passport holders from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. 

Apart from that, foreigners who have been to China on or after 15th January 2020 have been barred from entering India from any air, land or seaport, including Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan, Indo-Bangladesh or Indo-Myanmar land borders.

Meanwhile, the death toll in China's novel coronavirus outbreak went up to 563 as 73 people died on Wednesday, the highest one-day fatalities so far, while total confirmed cases rose sharply to 28,018, Chinese health officials said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, 73 people died due to the virus and the new confirmed cases of the epidemic went up by 3,694, the country's National Health Commission announced. Overall 563 people have died in the country due to the virus so far and 28,018 confirmed cases have been reported from 31 provincial-level regions, the Commission said.

The virus cases abroad climbed to 182 on Wednesday. The Philippines reported first death abroad while Hong Kong announced its first casualty on Sunday.

Chinese officials hope the cases will come down in the coming days with more specialised hospitals being set up in Wuhan. China's Ministry of Science and Technology said that a batch of Remdesivir, an antiviral drug, which will be put into clinical trials to test its efficiency on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), is expected to arrive in China soon. Remdesivir has been used to treat Ebola infections abroad, a media report said. So far there is no set treatment to cure the coronavirus cases.

(With PTI Inputs)