India releases list of countries ‘at-risk’ of COVID for arrivals; adds Hong Kong & Israel

As the Centre announced on Friday that international flight operations will resume in India starting December 15, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has added Hong Kong and Israel to the list of countries from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in India, including post-arrival testing.

Here's the list of countries from where travellers would need to follow additional measures on arrival in India, including post-arrival testing (Countries at-risk): 

• Countries in Europe including The United Kingdom
• South Africa
• Brazil
• Bangladesh
• Botswana
• China
• Mauritius
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Hong Kong
• Israel 

India To Resume Int'l Commercial Flights From Dec 15

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has announced that international flight operations will resume in India starting December 15. According to news agency ANI, the flights will, however, avoid regular operations to and from 14 countries. It has been reported that during the irregular operations from these 14 countries, the air bubble flight arrangements will be maintained. 

These 12 countries are the United Kingdom, Singapore, China, Brazil, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and New Zealand. The list also includes South Africa, Botswana, Israel, and Hong Kong - countries that have confirmed cases of the new B.1.1.529 variant of COVID-19.

The announcement comes just two days after Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation Rajiv Bansal said that the flights will resume soon. The international passenger flights were suspended in March 2020 owing to the onset of the COVID pandemic and the government had extended the suspension till November 30, 2021 in an order issued recently.

South Africa’s New COVID Variant 

South Africa has detected multiple samples of a new variant B.1.1.529 in Gauteng. The country’s health department has stated that the new variant has a “high number of mutations'' which the authorities point out are “concerning for predicted immune evasion and transmissibility.” The South African authorities have stated that the testing labs in Gauteng have found a rapid increase in detection of the variant in other provinces of the country as well. South Africa has reported 77 Coronavirus cases of the new variant. 

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared Israel to be in an emergency situation on Friday. As per Sputnik, the country, on Friday, had registered the first case of the new Coronavirus variant. The Health Ministry also stated that the first case of the variant was discovered in Israel after a person arrived from Malawi.

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