Joe Biden, the President of the United States of America (U.S.A.,) imposed a travel ban on non U.S. citizens to and from India.
Non U.S., citizens except for U.S., legal immigrants, would not be allowed into the United States if they have been to other countries including India, under the restrictions during the past 14 days.
The restrictions cover South Africa, China, Iran, Brazil, Ireland, Britain and the 29 countries belonging to the common visa zone known as the Schengen Area.
The proclamation regarding the same was signed by the U.S. President Joe Biden on the 30th of April. The ban was imposed in the wake of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in India, putting the nation into a COVID-19 crisis.
The Proclamation read, “After reviewing the public health situation within the Republic of India, the CDC concluded that proactive measures are required to protect the Nation’s public health from travellers entering the United States from that jurisdiction.” It further read, ”
“Given the determination of CDC, working in close coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, described above, I (Biden) have determined that it is in the interests of the United States to take action to restrict and suspend the entry into the United States, as nonimmigrants, of noncitizens of the United States (“noncitizens”) who were physically present within the Republic of India during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States.”
Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the United States made the official announcement at the White House. On the 30th of April, she addressed the press and said, “We have announced that starting Tuesday on the advice of the CDC (Centres for Disease Control, our COVID-19 experts, medical experts and national security advisors — travel restrictions will come into force for India.”
In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also said currently India is witnessing widespread, ongoing person to person transmission of the virus.
Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) also warned of the double mutant of COVID-19, known as B.1.617 which has been detected in India. The new strain of COVID-19 virus is spread in 17 countries including the U.S., the United Kingdom (U.K.,) Singapore and Germany. Many nations like Australia and Hong Kong banned traveling to and from India, due to the same.
The new rule will not apply to lawful permanent resident and non citizen nationals of the United States (any noncitizen who is the spouse of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.)
The imposed ban would begin from the 4th of May and would continue until the Joe Biden Administration decides to terminate it.
Meanwhile, the United States of America is the worst COVID-19 hit nation, followed by India which records 1/3rd of the new cases reported globally.
As of now, the U.S.A., has 32.4 million positive cases, followed by India with 18.8 million positive cases.
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