Australia bans all passenger flights from India until May 15 amid COVID-19 surge

Passenger flights from India to Australia have been banned until May 15, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on April 27 in the wake of the COVID-19 surge. All flights to India have also been postponed, as the Australian PM announced the decisions following a meeting of the National Security Committee of Cabinet. While the latest announcement will definitely increase the uncertainty for Australians stranded abroad, the Morrison-led government will also be sending ventilators and protective equipment to help India deal with the crippling second wave of COVID-19 with the nation registering a record-breaking surge in daily cases for consecutive days.

As of April 27, India logged more than 3.23 lakh fresh cases of coronavirus marking an 8.4% decrease from yesterday’s toll. However, in the last 24 hours, it also recorded at least 2,771 casualties related to COVID-19. Several nations including the United States and the UK have either banned or ramped up restrictions on flights to and from India as worries spread across the globe with the drastic surge in cases and emergence of variants.

Germany, Italy, Netherlands Join Nations In Banning Travelers

As governments across the globe impose restrictions on travellers from India including banning flights and making 7 or 10-day quarantine mandatory on arrivals, Netherlands, Maldives, Germany, Italy have suspended travel from India. The Netherlands will be suspending all passenger flights from India from 6 PM on April 26 till May 1 in the wake of a surge of COVID-19 cases in India. Sputnik quoted the Dutch Aviation Ministry statement saying, “A flight ban will take effect for passenger flights from India at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 26... The flight ban will be in place until at least 00:01 a.m. on May 1.”

Maldives, Germany, Italy, Bangladesh have most recently joined the list of countries that banned Indian travellers. As per reports, only German passport holders will be allowed to enter the European nation from India. Meanwhile, Italy has also barred travellers who have been in India in the past two weeks from entering the nation excluding Italian residents, but only with COVID-19 negative test before departure and will be subjected to quarantine on arrival. On April 25, the Maldives tourism minister tweeted that from April 27, the nation banned tourists from India from staying at the facilities meant for tourists.

While France is still planning on its limitations on travellers from India, following nations that have already imposed restrictions on passengers or banned travel altogether from the country:

• UK
• UAE
• Canada
• US
• Oman
• Hong Kong
• New Zealand
• Australia
• Pakistan
• Kuwait
• Singapore

Image credits: AP/ANI/Unsplash