COVID-19: Updated List of New Countries That Have Banned Flights from India

New Delhi- As the cases of the novel coronavirus keep skyrocketing and spiraling out of control with every passing day making India the second-worst COVID-19 affected nation in the world, many countries have imposed a ban on flights coming in from India. 

Earlier, nine countries- the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, France, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Oman had imposed a ban for flights coming from India citing the massive spike in the cases of the coronavirus and also the deadly "double-mutant variant" that was recently traced in India. Now a list of other additional countries has also imposed a fresh ban on flights coming in from India. 

The latest addition of countries imposing the ban of India are:

1. Australia

Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister of Australia announced that direct passenger flights from India to Australia will be suspended until May 15. 

This will impact two passenger services from India into Sydney and two repatriation flights from India to Darwin. 

The government after the 15th of May will consider further flights to India with the focus on supporting vulnerable Australians. 

Even the indirect flights from India to Australia via Doha, Dubai, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur were also paused today. 

2. Iran 

From Sunday midnight onwards, Iran imposed a ban on travelers coming from India and Pakistan. 

Iran President Hassan Rouhani said that the Indian variant of the coronavirus, which is deadlier than the English and the Brazilian variant, is a new threat that Iran faces.  

3. Kuwait

Kuwait is amongst the latest countries to have imposed a ban on flights coming in from India owing to the worsening COVID-19 situation in India. The ban will be effective from the 24th of April as per reports from the Kuwaiti directorate general of civil aviation.

The directorate general of civil aviation also took to Twitter to convey the message that the people who have arrived in Kuwait directly or indirectly from India will not be allowed unless they spend a minimum of 14 days outside India. 

Kuwaiti citizens, their first-degree relatives, and their domestic workers will be allowed to enter the country and freight flights will continue to be operational. 

4. Indonesia 

The Indonesian government has denied the issue of visas to any foreigner to have visited India in the past 14 days in order to curb the spread of this deadly infectious disease. However, Indonesian citizens coming from India will be allowed inside the country but strict COVID-19 protocols and guidelines will have to be followed by them. 

These fresh restrictions come after a charter plane that arrived in Indonesia from Chennai had twelve COVID-19 positive passengers out of the total 129 passengers on board, as per reports from the Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi. The minister said that the samples were sent for further genome sequencing. 

5. Canada

The Canadian government suspended flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days in April due to the massive surge in the daily cases of the novel coronavirus and the much dreaded double mutant variant traced in India. According to the Canadian health minister Patty Hajdu, half the people who tested positive after arriving via flights came from India. Cargo flights coming from India and Pakistan will however be operational. 

7. The Maldives

Even though the Maldives is allowing tourists from all the countries including India in their resorts and liveboards, the nation is prohibiting passengers from India into hotels and guest houses in the islands that are inhabited by people, as per the Ministry of Tourism. 

Meanwhile, India on Monday reported 3.23 lakh fresh COVID-19 cases taking the total caseload of the country to over 1.76 crores. 2,771 COVID-induced deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours with the total death toll now amounting to over 1.97 lakhs. There are over 28.74 lakh active cases of the novel coronavirus in the country. However, India finally saw a downward spiral in the number of COVID-19 cases with 8.4% fewer cases than the previous day. It is the sixth consecutive day that over 3 lakh cases have been reported in the country.

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