The novel Coronavirus strain has infected 20,595 people globally, with 20,438 cases in China. The number of fatalities has crossed 400 in a month.

Chinese expatriates in Mumbai, who had travelled to their country to celebrate the Chinese New Year, are now stuck with no clarity on when they can return to India.

Amid rising fear of coronavirus outbreak, while multiple airlines have suspended flight operations to China, India had, on February 2, suspended e-visas issued since January 15 to Chinese nationals and foreigners who reside in China. 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.

Zhang Xuemeng (27) had travelled to Beijing from Mumbai on January 20 to celebrate Chinese New Year, observed on January 25, with her family in Hebei. She has now cancelled her return flight scheduled on February 8. “There is no clarity whether the Indian government is allowing us entry. Several of my friends have also cancelled their tickets. The companies where they work in Mumbai have asked them to postpone their travel,” Xuemeng told The Indian Express over phone.

Xuemeng, who holds an employment visa, had worked in the administration department of a private Chinese company in Mumbai for three years before resigning. She was planning to take up another job once she returned. When she left for Hebei, a province near Beijing, she was unaware of the scale of the coronavirus outbreak.

“The panic spread two days after I arrived. I have not stepped outside my house for 11 days,” she said. Hebei had recorded 126 confirmed cases of coronavirus till Tuesday.

Another Chinese national, on the condition of anonymity, said: “I am also a tax payer in India. Although I can get a certificate from the Chinese government that I am healthy, India is still not allowing me entry. The visa office remains closed here.” The process to apply for employment visa will take four months once the travel advisory is relaxed, the Chinese national added.

Several airlines, including IndiGo and Air India had cancelled some flights to China. An Air India spokesperson said flights to Shanghai would remain suspended till February 14, when the situation will be reassessed. IndiGo has suspended two of its flights to China. Air China is expected to suspend operations to China from February 5.

Shikha Pandey, a Chinese language teacher in Mumbai University, said several of her Chinese friends had left for China days before the Chinese New Year. “The travel advisories then were not stringent. But now they are unable to return.”

Jie Chu (30), a Chinese national who is currently in Mumbai, said there is panic among the Chinese nationals residing in Mumbai. “My e-visa will expire in March. I don’t know if it will get renewed… I would not want to return to China in such circumstances. If it doesn’t get renewed, I will travel to the US,” she said. An e-visa is issued for 90 days.

Jie’s family lives in Hunan, where 593 cases have been reported according to the World Health Organisation. “My family is fine, but the number of affected are rising and we are worried,” she said. Several of her friends who had managed to return to India before the e-visas were suspended stayed home for several days to ensure they have not developed any symptoms. “They have now joined work,” Jie said.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had issued an advisory to Chinese nationals in India to report to quarantine facilities if they have travelled to China after January 15. Jie’s Indian roommate, who returned from China in January-end, plans to remain under isolation at home until the 14-day incubation period is over.

The novel Coronavirus strain has infected 20,595 people globally, with 20,438 cases in China. The number of fatalities has crossed 400 in a month.

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