As the coronavirus death toll mounted to 425, 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. On February 2, India temporarily suspended e-visa facility for Chinese travellers and foreigners residing in China in view of the coronavirus outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. The death toll in China's coronavirus rose sharply to 425 with 64 deaths on Monday and the number of those infected with the deadly disease rose to 20,438, Chinese health authorities said on Tuesday.

All those who are already in India (with regular or e-visa) and had travelled from China after January 15 are requested to contact the hotline number of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India (+91-11-23978046 and email: ncov2019@gmail.com, the announcement by the Indian Embassy here said.

About the validity of the visas, it said the Embassy of India and our Consulates have been receiving several queries from Chinese citizens as well as other foreign nationals, who are based out of China or visited China in the last 2 weeks, as to whether they can use their valid single/multiple entry visas to travel to India. It is clarified that existing visas are no longer valid. Intending visitors to India should contact the Indian Embassy in Beijing (visa.beijing@mea.gov.in) or the Consulates in Shanghai (Ccons.shanghai@mea.gov.in) and Guangzhou (Visa.guangzhou@mea.gov.in) to apply afresh for an Indian visa. Indian Visa Application Centres (www.blsindia-china.com) in these cities may also be contacted in this regard, it said.

The Visa Section of the Embassy/Consulates of India in China can be contacted to ascertain the validity of visa before undertaking any visit to India, it said. The deadly virus has spread to more than 25 countries, including India. India has reported three cases of the coronavirus. All the three patients from Kerala recently returned from the affected Wuhan city. Currently, 647 Indians and seven Maldivians who have been evacuated from Wuhan and Hubei province are in 14-day quarantine at a medical camp in Manesar, near Delhi.

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India employees will hold nationwide strike on Tuesday to protest against the government's move to sell stake in the country's largest insurer. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while announcing Budget for financial year 2020-21 announced stake sale of the LIC via initial public offering. Apart from selling stake in LIC, Ms Sitharaman also announced sale of its entire stake in IDBI Bank. The plan to announce stake sale of LIC is part of the government's aim to achieve Rs 2.1 lakh crore disinvestment target set for next financial year, up from Rs 1.05 lakh crore in the previous financial year.

"We will hold a one-hour nationwide strike on Tuesday from 12.15 to 1.15 p.m. We will stage a demonstration in all our offices also, then," Life Insurance Employees Association's Kolkata division Vice President Pradip Mukherjee told IANS. "We will then hit the streets to protest and resist the step. We will also go to all the MPs," he added.

Describing the proposal of partial disinvestment of LIC as "against national interest", Mr Mukherjee said the company was now India's biggest financial corporation in terms of assets, even surpassing the State Bank of India.

As per figures released in December, LIC cornered about 80 per cent of the market share in the insurance business despite the presence of 24 private companies.

Opposing the government's move, All-India Life Insurance Employees Federation General Secretary Rajesh Nimbalkar told Press Trust of India, "LIC has always been the last resort for funding for other public sector entities. We strongly oppose the government's proposal to sell a portion of its holding in LIC."

Any dilution of the government's stake in LIC would shake the faith of the policyholders in the institution, Mr Nimbalkar said. He added that although the government has not revealed the amount of the holdings it is planning on selling, past experience suggests that a majority of stake would be sold, resulting in LIC losing its public sector status.

Famous badminton player Saina Nehwal has joined Bharatiya Janata Party today in presence of the party's National General Secretary Arun Singh. On joining the BJP, the professional singles player said: "Today, I am joining a party that performs well for the country. Modi Ji has done so much for the sports in India with initiatives like Khelo India. Looking forward to work hard for the country and people. "

Saina's sister Chandranshu has also joined the saffron party. Saina Nehwal and her sister have been inducted into the party at a crucial time, i.e., the Delhi elections. It is, however, not clear whether she will campaign or not.

Saina Nehwal is the first Indian woman shuttler to achieve the World No.1 Ranking. She is currently at the ninth rank. Nehwal had won a Silver medal in the 2015 World Championship and a Bronze medal in 2017. She has been conferred with several prestigious awards such as the Arjuna Award in 2009, Padma Shri and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2010 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016.

Nehwal, however, is not the first player to join the BJP. Previously players such as international boxers Babita Phogat and Yogeshwar Dutt and former Indian Hockey team captain Sandeep Singh had also joined the party.

Senior diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu has been appointed as India's Ambassador to the US, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.

Mr Sandhu, a 1988-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is currently posted as High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka.

He replaces Harsh Vardhan Shringla as India's envoy in Washington. Mr Shringla has been named as India's next foreign secretary.

A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad has developed a new drug delivery system to treat fungal infections. This method, which is based on essential oils, can also reduce the risk of inducing drug resistance in the fungus and it can also counter those fungi that have developed resistance to conventional antifungal drugs.

The research was led by Dr. Mudrika Khandelwal, Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad, and supported with funds by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Grants from the American multinational conglomerate AT&T.

Highlighting the need for developing non-resistance inducing treatment option for fungal diseases, Dr Khandelwal said, "given the prevalence of fungal infections such as vaginal infections, diaper rash, athlete's foot, and nail fungus, caused by the Candida family of fungi, drug resistance can become life-threatening."

"Herbal essential oils and their ingredients are a promising class of effective antimicrobials. Thymol found in oregano oils, carvacrol found in thyme and eugenol found in clove oil, have excellent antimicrobial action against all types of Candida fungi. The problem with essential oils and their components is that they are sensitive to temperature, light, and pH, and decompose easily," she added.

A way to overcome this problem is to design a suitable carrier system that can protect the oils and release them in a controlled manner so that the antifungal action can be fully harnessed. The research team chose polylactic acid microcapsules to encapsulate the essential oil ingredients. Polylactic acid polymers are biocompatible and biodegradable and are already widely used in the medical field. The researchers found that using the microcapsules alone as the carrier could cause uncontrolled, burst release of the ingredients.

To delay the release of the active principles, the researchers designed another level of protectionin which polylactic acid microcapsules were further incorporated into a secondary barrier made of nanofibrous bacterial cellulose. The researchers also enhanced the anti-fungal activity of their formulation by using synergistic mixtures of thymol, carvacrol, and eugenol.

Speaking about vaginal candidiasis, a vaginal yeast infection, she said, "currently we are developing antifungal panty liners for mitigating vaginal candidiasis. The developed formulation can also be used as a transdermal patch /mucoadhesive patch to treat skin and mucocutaneous infections without inducing resistance in the fungal species."

The research paper was published in Materialia. The paper has been co-authored by Dr Khandelwal's PhD student Shivakalyani Adepu.