Canada has announced a ban on flights from India and Pakistan, effective Thursday, April 22 from 11:30 PM Eastern Time (Friday, 9:30 AM Indian time). This ban will be valid for a period of 30 days. The information was provided by Canada’s Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra.
This decision was taken due to the alarming number of coronavirus cases being reported from the two countries. Canada now joins the likes of the UK, UAE, and others in banning flights from India. Canada had banned flights from the UK in December when the region was affected by a newly detected strain (at the time) of COVID-19.
“Given the higher number of cases of Covid-19 detected in air passengers arriving in Canada from India and Pakistan... I am suspending all commercial and private passenger flights arriving in Canada from Indian and Pakistan for 30 days,” Alghabra said in a press briefing.
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“This is a temporary measure, while we assess the evolving situation and determine appropriate measures going forward,” the minister added. This ban will not apply to cargo flights, the minister further said. This is to make sure essential items including PPE, as well as vaccines, reach Canada.
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India’s daily cases touched 3,00,000 on Thursday. Experts say this is largely due to the new “double mutant” strain first detected in the country.
“But it is a significant volume. And given the epidemiological situation in India, it makes sense to pause travel from that region while our scientists and researchers have an ability to better understand...where the trajectory of the cases in that region is going,” Canadian Health Minister, Patty Hajdu said.
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