Qatar has temporarily barred travelers from 14 different foreign nations from today as the coronavirus infection tally surged globally. The ban covers China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria and Thailand. Qatar has a coronavirus infection toll of 15.
Globally, such measures are now the norm. The ministry of health has published a travel advisory for Indian citizens, asking them to refrain from traveling to China, Iran, Republic of Korea, Italy and Japan. According to the statement: "Indian citizens are advised to refrain from travel to China, Iran, Republic of Korea, Italy and Japan and advised to avoid non-essential travel to other COVID-19 affected countries. In addition to visa restrictions already in place, passengers traveling from /having visited Italy or Republic of Korea and desirous of entering India will need certificate of having tested negative for COVID-19 from the designated laboratories authorized by the health authorities of these countries. This will be enforced from 00:00 hours of March 10, 2020, and is a temporary measure till cases of COVID-19 subside."
Even as restrictions on overseas tourists rose, Japan lodged a strong protest with India over its decision to cancel all e-visas to Japanese nationals in view of coronavirus cases. Japan issued a demarche to India seeking review of its decision to cancel e-visas to Japanese nationals. In its demarche, Japan took strong note of India's decision to club Japanese nationals along with people from other countries ignoring strong bilateral ties between the two nations.
India had suspended all regular visas/e-visas granted on or before March 3 to nationals of Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan as part of measures to check spread of coronavirus in the country. The regular/e-visas granted to people from Italy, Iran, Japan and South Korea were suspended after these countries reported rising number of coronavirus cases. The e-visas granted to people from these four countries who have not yet entered India were also suspended with immediate effect. India had suspended regular/e-visas granted on or before February 5 to Chinese nationals and the restriction is continuing.
On Sunday, five fresh coronavirus cases were reported in Kerala, bringing the tally to 39. Three people who returned from coronavirus-affected regions in the past nine day were on Sunday quarantined for suspected exposure in Indore in Madhya Pradesh, a senior health official said on Sunday. Indore District Chief Medical and Health Officer Dr Praveen Jadia said the three, including a 34-year-old woman, had returned from the United States and Malaysia.
-Inputs from PTI
