International flights will continue until further notification under the air bubble agreements, a senior DGCA official said on condition of anonymity. Although India has extended its embargo on international flights until September 30, “air bubbles” or “air bridges” have become the only way in which international commercial travel has resumed since mid-July. Since then, the number of air bubbles in India has risen to 13, with Japan being the youngest country to make the list. “What makes it particularly unfair is that the bubbles are operating under the pretext of COVID and the agreements state that they are only meant to evacuate stranded passengers and only to one country,” one diplomat, who did not want to be identified, told The Hindu, pointing out that most airlines have violated this provision. Indian nationals holding a valid visa with a validity of at least one month – with the exception of a visa for tourist purposes – are allowed to travel. In addition, the government has now allowed all OCI cardholders to come to India. Foreign airlines have also been allowed to carry passengers who wish to travel through their country, subject to the destination country that allows travel within their borders. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued detailed guidelines on who is allowed to travel to these countries from India, as well as the criteria for travelling to India from these countries. The new rules replace the previous notice published on 24 May 2020. It should be noted that if the health protocols of the Ministry of Home Affairs apply, the respective governments of India can develop their own protocol in terms of quarantine and isolation based on their assessment after the arrival of passengers. Travelers are therefore invited to comply with the latest guidelines of the authorities of the destination country. While the infection rate is not yet as high as in other European countries, the unstoppable rise in Germany has set off alarm bells. Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to meet with the governors of the 16 states next week to coordinate national action, and parliament is considering a bill that would provide a new legal framework for restrictions over the winter.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran announced the start of a fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic this week, when the country recorded 11,883 new cases, the second day in a row with a new case count of more than 10,000. New cases have increased by double digits on a week-over-week basis since about mid-October. Health Minister Jens Spahn said he would order the revival of free Covid-19 rapid tests, which were abolished a month ago, to convince more people to get vaccinated from Saturday. Germany has recently struggled to give new impetus to its vaccination campaign, with just over two-thirds of the population fully vaccinated. In addition, the agreements are only supposed to be “end-to-end”, i.e. they do not apply to subsequent travel to a third country, which means that travellers often have to interrupt their journey at several locations to get to a destination to which India does not allow direct flights. At a recent event hosted by a Delhi-based think tank, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia was confronted with a number of questions from ambassadors and high commissioners on the issue and was “besieged” by demands to normalize air flights to pre-COVID levels, participants said. i. stranded Canadian nationals/residents and foreign nationals holding a valid Canadian visa who are eligible to enter Canada; The Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations. However, The Hindu spoke with a number of officials who accepted that the problem of air transport bubbles is getting worse, especially as more and more travelers are trying to visit India from countries that flew directly into India but are not currently flying. Health Secretary Sajid Javid has now ordered that all health care workers working with the public be vaccinated against the coronavirus from April.
There will be exceptions for those who are medically exempt and for employees who do not meet with the public. The change applies to England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own health rules. The unions had spoken out against the vaccination requirement, as it could lead some employees to leave the already strained health system. “We prepared for it on a war footing. We started the exam yesterday (Wednesday). We expect about 8,500 people to come to about 11 Indian airports from the 11 countries marked as `vulnerable`, and we are prepared with the testing procedures for RT-PCR and rapid tests (at these airports),” Scindia said. ii. Any Indian national holding a valid visa from Afghanistan and destined only for Afghanistan. It would be up to the relevant airlines to ensure that there are no travel restrictions for Indian nationals to enter Afghanistan with the respective visa category before issuing the ticket/boarding pass to the Indian passenger.
It is different from repatriation flights, which are only an itinerary and passengers must register with the embassy to board these flights. According to a statement by India`s Director General of Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri, “an air bubble is a travel corridor between two countries that will fly their planes in a regulated environment.” Although quarantine standards and testing criteria remain in place, passengers must comply with the guidelines of the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs. In addition, travelers should understand that air bubbles apply exclusively to these specific routes. For example, while non-essential travel is gradually being allowed to the European Union, India is not on the list of recommended countries from which travel is allowed. In addition, not all types of visas will be allowed to enter the destination country. Reasons for authorized travel to India include repatriation, healthcare, business, manufacturing, engineering/management/design expertise, and other areas provided certain conditions are met. Diplomatic sources told The Hindu that a number of messages have been written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation calling for an end to what they see as an “unfair” system where only countries with which the government has decided to sign “air transport bubble” agreements can operate flights. and even these are limited by the mutual agreements of the government. “There is a general feeling that air bubbles have been dragging on for too long. International flights could reopen in December-January. The government`s thinking has changed recently as COVID cases decline,” an official told The Hindu, acknowledging that the government was now feeling pressure to rethink its policies. India has signed an air travel agreement with Bangladesh for October 28, 2020.
This regulation is valid until 31 January 2021. Indian and Bangladeshi airlines are now allowed to operate flights between India and Bangladesh and carry the following groups of people on these flights: However, India allows limited movement of passengers over international air bubbles, like many other countries that are facing flight restrictions during the pandemic. On Thursday, Scindia also said the Indian government had proposed extending the air bubble deal with 10 other countries. .
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