Bhubaneswar: In view of “clearly present” risks of travel from India, Australia on Tuesday suspended all direct passenger flights for the next three weeks.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the suspension would remain in place until at least May 15, AFP reported.
Earlier, Queensland state had urged the federal government to halt all flights from India due to the high risk of potential COVID-19 outbreaks from highly contagious virus variants in Australia’s hotel quarantine system.
The move to temporarily restrict flights from India has left thousands of Australians -including high-profile cricketers -stranded. It is expected to affect direct flights to Sydney and two repatriation flights scheduled to arrive in Darwin, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
United Kingdom, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, UAE, Indonesia, Kuwait, Thailand, the Netherlands and Iran have also restricted entry of travellers from India, which has been reporting more than 3 lakh daily new coronavirus cases for the past few days.
The US has issued a travel advisory for its people travelling to and from India.
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