- Most travel from India to US banned due to pandemic
- The policy will take effect on Tuesday, May 4
- US citizens told to get out of India as soon as possible
US administration announced that most travel from India will be banned starting Tuesday amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.
“On the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration will restrict travel from India starting immediately,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Friday.
“The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high COVID-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in the India,” she said.
“The policy will take effect on Tuesday, May 4.”
The move comes on top of international travel restrictions already in place requiring people to have a negative test result before coming to the United States. The move is not expected to apply to U.S. citizens.
Earlier, US citizens were told to get out of India as soon as possible as the country’s COVID-19 crisis worsens at an astonishing pace.
The US Department of State issued a Level 4 travel advisory – the highest of its kind, telling US citizens “not to travel to India or to leave as soon as it is safe to do so.”
According to the department, there are 14 direct daily flights between India and the US and other services that connect through Europe.
The COVID-19 spike in India has worsened tremendously over the past weeks. New coronavirus cases in the country have skyrocketed to more than 380,000 in a single day.