NEW DELHI: The

family that hid its travel history and passed on Covid-19 to others alarmed the government, prompting a suspension of visas. Though Indian nationals - who are not positive for the disease - are free to return, a significant number of foreigners were also reaching India with travel histories even more difficult to confirm.

The group of ministers headed by health minister Harsh Vardhan was informed on Wednesday by the civil aviation ministry that despite repeated advisories, as many as 40,000 Indians and 18,000 foreigners had entered India on the day. Checking the travel histories of passengers who moved across one or more transit points was a challenging task, with Covid-19 reported from more than 100 nations.

"The Kerala example caused deep concern. People are dodging and not declaring travel histories. The task becomes all the more difficult with foreigners," said an official. The proactive decision to suspend most visas barring a few was seen to reflect Prime Minister Narendra Modi's view during Covid-19 discussions where he made it clear that the government must act fast and consider the situation as a national security challenge.

"Though there are economic costs to be borne, a pandemic is a national security situation, which is not only one pertaining to terrorism or armed conflict. The government treats Covid-19 as a health emergency," said a source aware of the inter-ministerial discussions and oversight by the cabinet secretary and the PMO.

"Though the number of travellers dropped since the first week of March when the government started universal screening at airports, the numbers were still significant. With all positive cases having a travel history, it was imperative to restrict entries to avoid spreading of the virus," the official said. On March 4, around 60,000 Indians and 40,000 foreigners entered India.

There were worrying instances of international travellers entering India and jumping screening by not declaring adequate and appropriate information. "There were silent carriers of the virus which led to transmission," the official said. For instance, a traveller from Malaysia did not declare he had consumed paracetamol for fever and hence went undetected during screening.

Health authorities are also worried that if India fails to avoid community transmission, it may result in a major crisis given the population, use of public transport and other logistical issues. "We are at level II where there are only cases of local transmission but once it reaches community transmission level, the spread is much faster. Our efforts are focused at avoiding that situation and instead contain it beforehand," the official said.