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.

Health being a state subject, every state is taking their own measures. So to bring them under the Union Health Ministry and jointly deal with the coronavirus outbreak, the Centre has invoked Section 10 of the Disaster Management Act and asked all state to invoke Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act.

Source NDTV