Published 20:14 IST, August 18th 2020
MHA allows foreign journalists & their dependents to enter India amid COVID-19 crisis
The Ministry of Home Affairs permitted foreign journalists and their dependents to enter India, easing the travel relaxations amid the coronavirus crisis.
Advertisement
In a big development on Tuesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs permitted foreign journalists and their dependents to enter India, easing the travel relaxations amid the COVID-19 crisis. The J-1 (journalist) and J-1X (dependent) visas that have been suspended shall stand restored with immediate effect. If the validity of these visas has expired, the foreign journalists can obtain a fresh visa from the concerned Indian missions abroad.
Moreover, the existing restrictions on incoming passenger traffic into India through the Immigration Check Posts shall not apply in the case of the aforesaid foreigners. However, all the guidelines of the Ministry of Health including COVID-19 related matters and quarantine norms shall be adhered to. Currently, there are 6,73,166 active COVID-19 cases in India while 19,77,779 patients have been discharged and 51,797 fatalities have been reported.
Foreign nationals holding Journalist (J-1) visa & their dependents holding J-1X visa permitted to enter India. If they have J1 or J-1X visas, which are suspended, such visas stand restored with immediate effect. Fresh visas may be obtained if validity of such visas expired: MHA pic.twitter.com/b3o1k2NLU2
— ANI (@ANI) August 18, 2020
These are some of the categories of foreigners exempted from travel restrictions:
- Minors who hold OCI cards and whose parents are Indian nationals
- OCI cardholders who wish to come to India due to family emergencies
- Minors where at least one parent is an Indian citizen or an OCI cardholder
- Foreign nationals married to Indian citizens
- Single parents of minors holding Indian passport or an OCI card
- Students where at least one parent is an Indian citizen or OCI cardholder
- Dependent family members of foreign diplomats
- Official passport holding service staff accredited to foreign diplomatic missions, consular offices or accredited international organizations in India
- OCI cardholders who belong to countries with which "air bubble" arrangements have been finalized
COVID-19 crisis in India
With 57,584 COVID-19 patients getting cured in the last 24 hours, the country registered the single-highest one-day spike of recoveries. The recovery rate stands at 73.18%. Moreover, the difference between the recovered and active cases has soared to 13,04,613. Meanwhile, the case fatality rate remains constant at 1.92%. After 8,99,864 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the number of tests done in India has increased to 3,09,41,264. The number of COVID-19 testing labs rose to 1476 including 971 labs in the government sector and 505 private labs.
20:14 IST, August 18th 2020