All existing visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/International Organizations, employment, project visas, will stand suspended till April 15 in view of novel coronavirus which has claimed more than 4,000 lives worldwide so far, the government on Wednesday announced, adding that this will come into effect from 1200 GMT on March 13 at the port of departure. The development comes even as the World Health Organisation said new coronavirus outbreak can now be characterised as a "pandemic".

"COVID-19 can be characterised as a pandemic," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva. "We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus."

All existing visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/International Organizations, employment, project visas, will stand suspended till April 15 in view of novel coronavirus which has claimed more than 4,000 lives worldwide so far, the government on Wednesday announced, adding that this will come into effect from 1200 GMT on March 13 at the port of departure. The development comes even as the World Health Organisation said new coronavirus outbreak can now be characterised as a "pandemic".

"COVID-19 can be characterised as a pandemic," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva. "We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus."