Countries restrict travel from India as cases spike
CDC tells Americans to avoid travel to India even if they’re vaccinated, and gives guidelines on what to do if they must
NEW DELHI: The US, the UK, Singapore and New Zealand are among the countries that have imposed fresh restrictions on travellers from India or issued advisories against travelling to India following a massive spike in coronavirus disease cases that could spur similar actions by more nations.
On Monday, India recorded nearly 274,000 new infections and the total number of confirmed cases was more than 15 million. Countries around the world have watched warily as the number of cases has grown, especially in the past two weeks, and high-profile visits and summits have been called off.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), late on Monday, advised Americans to avoid all travel to India even if they are vaccinated. CDC placed India among “level 4” countries, or those with “very high” levels of Covid-19 cases.
“Because of the current situation in India even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading Covid-19 variants and should avoid all travel to India,” CDC said.
Singapore’s health ministry announced on Tuesday that Covid-19 border measures will be tightened for travellers from India, who will have to stay at home for an additional seven days after the mandatory 14-day stay at dedicated facilities. The new rule will come into force from Thursday.
New Zealand, which has worked assiduously to keep infection rates low, was the first country to act as cases increased in India. On April 8, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced New Zealand was temporarily suspending the entry of travellers from India, including its own citizens, for two weeks.
The move followed New Zealand recording 23 new positive cases at its borders, including 17 from India.
Hours after the cancellation of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit to India on Monday, India became the 40th country to be included in Britain’s travel “red list”. Most travellers, except British and Irish passport-holders, coming from or transiting through India won’t be allowed to enter the UK from April 23.
Many experts believe the UK had held off on including India in the red list because Johnson planned to go ahead with his visit on April 25. Britain’s decision also followed the detection of more than 100 cases of the
Indian “double mutant” variant of the coronavirus.
Pakistan on Monday put a ban on travellers from India for two weeks, citing the spread of the new coronavirus variant. The National Command and Operation Centre placed India in the “list of Category C countries” and said there would “be a ban on inbound passengers coming from India via air and land routes”.
Hong Kong suspended flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines from Tuesday for two weeks after a mutant Covid-19 variant was detected in the financial hub for the first time. The three countries were classified as “extremely high risk” after multiple cases of travellers carrying the strain into Hong Kong in the past fortnight.
Authorities in Hong Kong said on Tuesday that 53 passengers on a flight from New Delhi to the city tested positive for Covid-19.
Flights from India continue to be Canada’s top source of international passengers testing positive for Covid-19, Toronto Sun reported on Tuesday. Data from Health Canada showed nearly all of the twice-daily flights between Delhi and Toronto carried passengers infected with the Coronavirus. Thirty of the 106 flights carrying infected passengers into Canada since March 4 originated from Delhi, the report said.