Summary:
New Delhi: With the number of Covid-19 cases in India on an upsurge, the international community is drawing the line when it comes to travel from here.
Late Monday, the United Kingdom put India in its travel “red list” effective Friday.
Shortly after that, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put out an advisory saying “Travelers should avoid all travel to India”.
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New Delhi: With the number of Covid-19 cases in India on an upsurge, the international community is drawing the line when it comes to travel from here.
Late Monday, the United Kingdom put India in its travel “red list” effective Friday.
Shortly after that, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put out an advisory saying “Travelers should avoid all travel to India”.
On Sunday, Hong Kong activated an “emergency circuit breaker” and banned passenger flights from India for 14 days starting April 20.
New Zealand, too, suspended entry of travellers from India earlier this month.
Why are countries restricting travel to and from India?
According to the UK, the decision to put India on the travel “red-list” was a result of detecting 103 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in India.
On Sunday, Hong Kong imposed a two-week flight ban from India citing a similar reason pertaining to a mutated strain of coronavirus coming out of India.
In addition to this, jurisdictions are also expressing concern at the sheer number of Covid-19 cases emerging in India.
The US CDC’s advisory came alongside it updating India’s Covid-19 assessment from Level 3 to Level 4, which is the highest level on its scale.