Only Indian and Bhutanese people will be allowed to enter each other’s country using the border checkposts, the Centre has announced. The same restrictions will be applicable on the India-Nepal border as well.

In Bengal, the most prominent transit point between India and Bhutan is Jaigaon (Alipurduar district)-Phuentsholing (Bhutan). The other transit point is Chamurchi (Jalpaiguri)-Samtse (Bhutan).

“Earlier, Bhutan had halted the entry of non-Bhutanese people into the country. But on the Indian side, Bhutanese people and residents of countries (other than India and Bhutan) were being allowed to enter. But from Sunday, only residents of India and Bhutan will be allowed to enter the two countries through the transit points, obviously after thermal screening,” said a source in the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which guards the border.

At the India-Nepal transit points too, only residents of the two countries will be allowed through. Both India-Nepal transit points in Bengal are in Darjeeling district. The most popular is the Panitanki-Kakarvitta route that is around 35km from Siliguri, while the other is Pashupati near Mirik.

“People from these two countries (India and Nepal) can only move through these borders after screening. We are keeping a close watch at the borders and residents of no other country will be allowed through these routes,” the SSB source said.

Also, any Indian, Nepalese or Bhutanese coming to India from any one of seven countries — Italy, China, Spain, Iran, France, Germany and South Korea —will be quarantined at an appropriate facility of the state or the central government.

Doctor admitted

A Siliguri doctor back from Spain has been admitted to the isolation ward of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital after he developed symptoms of the novel coronavirus.