The White House will soon restrict travel from India beginning at midnight on Tuesday, May 4, as India struggles to deal with a deadly second wave of the novel coronavirus, according to Axios.
- White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday: “On the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the administration will restrict travel from India starting immediately.”
Per CNN, the decision does not apply to American citizens who need to travel back to the United States. Travel restrictions — like the need for a COVID-19 test before travel — will remain in place, too. This also doesn’t apply to humanitarian workers, who are in India helping the nation.
- Specifically, the White House will restrict “entry into the U.S. for foreign nationals who have been in India within the previous 14 days,” CNN reports.
India is currently facing one of the worst COVID-19 surges around the world. The combination of a “double mutant” coronavirus variant and because the government ignored warnings of another rise of COVID-19, which came back with a full force, as I explained for the Deseret News.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of State issued a “do not travel” advisory for India “due to COVID-19.” The Center of Disease Control and Prevention also sent out a “Level 4: Very High” advisory that said, “travelers should avoid all travel to India.”
- “Because of the current situation in India, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants and should avoid all travel to India,” CDC’s warning states.