The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised Americans to avoid all travel to India even if they are vaccinated.
New Zealand, the UK, the US and Singapore are among the countries that have imposed fresh restrictions on travellers from India against the backdrop of a massive spike in Covid-19 infections.
On Monday, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 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,” the CDC said.
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.
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.
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.
Singapore will also reduce entry approvals for non-citizens and permanent residents due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in India and the emergence of the new Coronavirus variant, the ministry said.
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 Covid-19.
Authorities in Hong Kong said on Tuesday that 53 passengers on a flight from New Delhi to the city had tested positive for Covid-19. The passengers flew into Hong Kong on a Vistara flight on April 4.
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.
Source: Hindustan Times
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