Coronavirus: Death toll in China 426, India cancels valid visas to Chinese
New Delhi/Beijing: As the Coronavirus death toll mounted to 426, India on Tuesday further tightened visa rules by cancelling the existing visas for Chinese and foreigners who had visited the country in the last two weeks.
On February 2, India temporarily suspended e-visa facility for Chinese travellers and foreigners residing in China in view of the outbreak in Wuhan.
Meanwhile, the death toll in China's Coronavirus rose sharply to 426 with 64 deaths on Monday and the number of those infected with the deadly disease rose to 20,522, Chinese health authorities said on Tuesday.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the number of cases will keep growing because tests are pending on thousands of suspected cases. Five people suspected of carrying the Coronavirus have been shifted to Safdarjung Hospital from the ITBP facility built to quarantine the people brought from Wuhan.
According to a report, this is being done as pre-cautionary measure after the three men and two women displayed symptoms like cough and sneezing.
On the other hand, the outbreak has added to the woes of drug regulators and manufacturers as the prices of essential medicines may increase due to closing down of several API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) manufacturing companies in China.
As per industry experts, if the case of Coronavirus continues for a longer period, India would face a shortage of API as under the given circumstances drug manufactures would have to procure them from other countries at much higher prices.
"Most of the API manufacturing companies are situated in China's Zhejiang and Hubei province. Wuhan city is in Hubei province while Zhejiang is its neighbouring province. Since both the provinces are in the grip of Coronavirus, so most of the API manufacturing units have been closed for a long time," the experts said, adding that the Chinese government has also extended the New Year holiday until mid-February to prevent the spread of the virus.
With agency inputs
