Canberra: Australia on Thursday decided to cut the number of flights from India which is seeing a rise in COVID -19 cases and limited Australians who need to go there to “only very urgent cases”.
The National Cabinet, which is made up of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and state and territory leaders, agreed to reduce the volume of flights from India by 30 percent.
Morrison said that up to 40 per cent of the active cases of COVID-19 currently in hotel quarantine in Australia have come from India.
“We will also be limiting the departure exceptions for Australians travelling to high-risk countries,” Morrison told reporters after the meeting.
Tavellers from high risk countries such as India will also be required to return a negative test for COVID-19 72 hours before flying.
“There are many countries in the world, the Prime Minister was talking about India, that is in very serious situations with COVID and the risk of COVID importation and outbreak in Australia is ever present,” TV network 9News quoted Chief Health Minister, Brendan Murphy as saying.
