India Suspends All Tourist Visas

New Delhi: The government has suspended all visas to India as the cases of coronavirus in the country sharply spiked and the World Health Organisation declared it a pandemic. Altogether, 67 people in India are infected, a chunk of them are a group of tourists from Italy. The Union health ministry said all existing visas — except diplomatic, official, UN/International organisations, employment and project visas — will be suspended till April 15. “This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure,” read a communique issued late Wednesday night after a meeting of a Group of Ministers headed by health minister Dr Harshvardhan. Visa facilities had been partially suspended earlier from the COVID-19 nations, countries where the virus is on a rampage.