In view of the rampant spread of COVID-19 in India, the White House on Friday, 30 April, announced travel restrictions for incoming passengers from India effective 4 May.
The new restrictions are on the advice of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and are imposed "in light of extraordinarily high COVID-19 case loads and multiple variants circulating in India," said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki in a statement.
This is not the first time the Biden administration has issued a travel ban in view of COVID-19. The administration had earlier announced a similar ban on most non-US citizens entering the country from South Africa, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the 26 European Union countries.
Who is Exempted?
Students seeking to commence studies in the fall, academics, journalists, and individuals who provide critical infrastructure support in countries affected by a geographic COVID-19 restriction may qualify for the exception of travel ban.
According to the US State Department, the travel ban exemption is in line with a similar exemption that the US has granted to some categories of travellers from Brazil, China, Iran, and South Africa.
India on 1 May reported 4,01,993 fresh COVID cases and 3,523 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the official figures provided by the Union Health Ministry.
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