Amid the plummeting Covid-19 cases across the country, the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued an advisory on Tuesday, asking its citizens to avoid travelling to India at all cases, despite being fully vaccinated.
This came shortly after the United Kingdom added India to its ‘red list’ late on Monday, banning entry of Indians into the UK, effective Friday 3am.
Hong Kong too has banned entry of passenger flights from India, along with Pakistan and the Philippines, while activating an ‘emergency circuit breaker’ late on Sunday, effective for 14 days starting from April 20.
New Zealand on April 8 announced suspension of entry for Indian travellers in the country, effective from April 11 to April 28.
More and more countries are restricting international travels for Indian nationals, in compliance with the increasing Covid-19 cases in the country.
It has been reported that the main reason for countries banning air travel from India is the surging number of fresh cases in the country, in addition to citing a mutated strain of coronavirus from India.
Travel Bans from Different Countries
India recorded 2,59,170 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, taking the country’s total Covid-19 toll to 1,53,21,089. On Wednesday, the country recorded 2,95,041 fresh infection cases, along with 2,023 deaths, reports IndiaTV.
Amidst the skyrocketing number of cases, the international community has started to ban India for travel.
It started on April 8, when New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced in a news conference that entry of travellers from India would be suspended from April 11 to April 28, as 17 out of 23 new Covid cases reported at the country’s border, came from India.
Following this, Hong Kong on April 18 activated an “emergency circuit breaker”, banning passenger flights from India, besides Pakistan and the Philippines for 14 days, effective April 20.
The three banned countries are classified as “extremely high risk”, after Hong Kong saw multiple Covid positive cases in the country from travellers of these three countries, in the past 14 days.
On April 19, the UK added India to its ‘red list’, banning travel for Indian citizens, effective Friday 3 am. India shares travel ban restrictions from the UK, with 8 other countries, namely Pakistan, Bangladesh, Oman, the Philippines, Qatar, South Africa, the UAE and Zimbabwe.
Falling into the UK’s red list means that on entering into the UK before 3am on April 23, you will have to self-isolate for 10 days in your place of residence, followed by taking a Covid-19 test on day two and day eight.
However, after 3am April 23, only a resident of the UK or Ireland, or a British citizen can enter the UK if they have been in India in the last 10 days, followed by complete hotel quarantine for 10 days from the time of arrival.
On April 20, the US CDC issued an advisory, advising its citizens to avoid travelling to India, even if they are fully vaccinated, stating that India has a high Covid-19 count.
It has stated, “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. If you must travel to India, get fully vaccinated before travel. All travellers should wear a mask, stay 6 feet from others, avoid crowds, and wash their hands.”
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