Amid coronavirus outbreak, MHA suspends travel, registration for Kartarpur Sahib

In its bid to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, the Ministry of Home Affairs has temporarily suspended the travel and registration for Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan from Monday. This comes after the total number of positive cases in India has risen up to 93 and two deaths have been reported so far. 

Earlier, the Pakistan government had also decided to close the Kartarpur Corridor for the Pakistani citizens, however, the corridor will remain open for the Indian pilgrims who can continue visiting the Darbar Sahab Gurudwara. 

Taking to Twitter, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs apprised about the development. The government has also restricted international passenger traffic through land checkposts to contain the spread of COVID-19. All passenger movements through immigration land check posts at borders with Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar will be suspended from March 15 till further orders, the ministry had said last week.

Earlier, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced complete closure of the passenger movement through all immigration land check posts at the India-Pakistan border from March 16 until further orders. Moreover, the movement of passengers will be restricted at the border with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Myanmar barring for select immigration land check posts from March 15. Also, the cross-border India-Bangladesh bus and train services will be suspended from March 15 to April 15.  

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Coronavirus Outbreak

As of today, the total number of positive cases in India has risen up to 93, with two deaths have been reported in Kalaburagi and West Delhi respectively. 

First detected in Wuhan in December 2019, COVID-19- the novel coronavirus has affected nearly 135 countries in the world. Presently, there are over 142,649 confirmed cases of COVID-19 which has led to the death of 5,393 people. As there is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine to treat COVID-19, countries have been grappling with all possible mechanisms to contain its scope. So far, China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran have witnessed the most number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.

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