New Zealand halts all flights from India amid fears of in-flight infection, India continues International flight ban

With India seeing a surge in Covid-19 cases, the imposition of fresh international travel restrictions on flights from India is increasingly becoming a reality again, similar to what happened back in 2020.

New Zealand is halting all flights from India amid fears passengers were contracting coronavirus on board the planes or in transit. The move comes after 17 new cases of overseas travelers were found in the past 24 hours, all of whom were from India.

The suspension will take place from 4 pm on April 11 until at least April 28, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a news conference in Wellington.

Currently, most of the countries to where flights operate from India are either repatriation flights being operated by a particular country or are flights operating under the air bubble arrangement.

A bilateral air bubble is a mechanism to resume flights between India and other nations with preconditions during the pandemic.

As of date, India has air bubble arrangements with 27 countries including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Ukraine, the UAE, the UK, Uzbekistan and the US.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said while the temporary ban is for India, the decision behind it is not country-specific. “New Zealand is not immune to the virus, especially with a pandemic raging outside our borders,” Ms Ardern said. She also said the temporary suspension of travel from India was to protect both New Zealand and the travelers themselves.

On Thursday, India recorded 126,789 Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day spike following the onset of the pandemic last year.

The new figure increased the overall caseload to 12,928,574, the world’s third highest after the US and Brazil.