They were known from the photographs that the Indian government took from a helicopter, after the 2004 tsunami. But since 2018, when they made headlines for having shot and killed an American who illegally entered the island to evangelize them, the Indian authorities decided to keep them isolated. Any contact could be dangerous for visitors but also catastrophic for the Sentinelese, as their extreme isolation makes them vulnerable to common infections. Isolated, its 200 members overcame the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 without contagion.
