India’s visa restrictions leave travel firms in crisis, as coronavirus cases rise to 73

New Delhi’s decision to temporarily shut its borders comes as cases rise twelve-fold over eight days, from just six infections on March 3

While the travel sector has been left reeling, a public health doctor says the move will prevent India’s already inadequate health system from being stretched

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A group of students in protective masks walk outside a railway station in Kochi on March 10, 2020. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:30pm, 12 Mar 2020Updated: 11:59pm, 7 Apr 2020

Farooq Dhanani is a worried man. For the past three weeks, the manager of Air Arena, a travel agency in Mumbai, has seen bookings dwindle amid the widening coronavirus outbreak in India.

“From making 20 to 25 new bookings every day, our bookings had gone to about two to three a day ever since the coronavirus broke out across the globe,” Dhanani said. “But we kept hoping that things would improve.”

But on Wednesday night, after the World Health Organisation (WHO) labelled the outbreak a “pandemic”, the Indian government announced it would suspend almost all visas, except select categories, until April 15.

The government also decided to bar foreign citizens of Indian origin from visa-free entry during this period, and announced a 14-day quarantine period for all travellers arriving from China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, France, Spain and Germany after February 15.

Tourists walk along a street in New Delhi on March 12, 2020. Photo: AFP

The restrictions have come as a blow to the travel industry, and to operators like Dhanani.