The country not only barred travelers from India but also from the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the Philippines by suspending valid visas.
Foreigners holding Chinese diplomatic, service, courtesy, and C visas are not affected. Foreigners with emergency or humanitarian needs to visit China can submit a visa application to the Chinese Embassy/ Consulates in India. The entry into China with visas issued after November 3rd, 2020 is not affected.
The sudden move has left unclear whether four repatriation flights announced by India for this month will go ahead on schedule.
The Indian Embassy in Beijing said a Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) Delhi-Wuhan-Delhi flight set for November 6 will be rescheduled because the embassy “has not received the required clearances from the Chinese authorities”.
Air India had scheduled further VBM flights for November 13, 20, 27, and December 4 to China.
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On Tuesday, the Chinese health authorities in Hubei province said 23 passengers on an October 30 Air India flight from New Delhi to Wuhan tested positive, of whom 19 were asymptomatic.
Four symptomatic patients, including a couple traveling with a six-year-old, are being treated in hospital.
The Chinese Embassy in India said it had, because of the pandemic, "decided to temporarily suspend the entry into China by foreign nationals in India holding valid Chinese visas or residence permits” and “the Chinese Embassy/ Consulates in India will not stamp the Health Declaration Forms” that are needed to travel.
As Beijing is broadly controlling the local transmission of cases within the country and China returning to normalcy in recent months following stringent measures, authorities are now emphasizing dealing with “imported” cases from international travelers as the current priority.
As the active cases in the country now stand at 5,27,962 after a decrease of 5,825 in the last 24 hours. A total of 77,11,809 people have recuperated from the infection with 55,331 new discharges.