avoid fallback country lookup when places are excluded

nominatim/api/search/db_searches.py

@@ -403,6 +403,12 @@ class CountrySearch(AbstractSearch):
                                       details: SearchDetails) -> nres.SearchResults:
         """ Look up the country in the fallback country tables.
         """
+        # Avoid the fallback search when this is a more search. Country results
+        # usually are in the first batch of results and it is not possible
+        # to exclude these fallbacks.
+        if details.excluded:
+            return nres.SearchResults()
+
         t = conn.t.country_name
         tgrid = conn.t.country_grid
 

nominatim/api/types.py

@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ def format_excluded(ids: Any) -> List[int]:
                (isinstance(i, str) and (not i or i.isdigit())) for i in plist):
         raise UsageError("Parameter 'excluded' only takes place IDs.")
 
-    return [int(id) for id in plist if id]
+    return [int(id) for id in plist if id] or [0]
 
 
 def format_categories(categories: List[Tuple[str, str]]) -> List[Tuple[str, str]]: