The United States government has released an advisory to American citizens to avoid all travel to India even if they have administered the covid-19 vaccine doses. This comes amid the unprecedented surge in the COVID-19 cases in India.
Even fully vaccinated people may be at risk in India, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the national public health agency of the United States of America, said.
“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. If you must travel to India, get fully vaccinated before travel. All travelers should wear a mask, stay 6 feet from others, avoid crowds, and wash their hands,” the advisory says.
The US medical body also issued travel recommendations for travellers who are fully vaccinated. “If you are fully vaccinated, then do not have to get tested before leaving the United States, unless your destination requires it and you do not have to self-quarantine after you arrive in the United States,” it added.
This comes on the same day Britain added India to its COVID-19 travel “red list,” which means suspending all travel from the country and making a 10-day hotel quarantine compulsory for UK residents arriving back to the country with immediate effect.
“After studying the data, and on a precautionary basis, we’ve made the difficult but vital decision to add India to the red list,” UK health minister Matt Hancock told MPs. “This means anyone who is not a UK or Irish citizen… cannot enter the UK if they have been in India in the previous 10 days,” he said.
India is currently witnessing the worst surge of coronavirus disease. The country has been adding over 200,000 lakh cases for five days with deaths reported over 1,000 in one day.
