The entire world has apparently beenhit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and it has certainly changed our lives inseveral ways. In yet another change to acknowledge, the Australian governmentfor the first time ever has abandoned its residents amid the Covid crisis.
The Australian government restrictedthe entry of its citizens, who have spent more or less than 14 days in India.Thus, the Australians stuck in India cannot fly back to their home country.
However, if any one of them tries tofly back in an illicit manner, the government will either put them behind thebars for up to 5 years or will charge a penalty of $66,000.
According to the Australian mediareports, this hard and fast rule is likely to take effect from Saturday. Thegovernment is conspiring to pass this new law under the Biosecurity Act toimpose a flyback on those with a travel history to India in the past 14 days.
It may be noted here that this decision has come in the wake of the latest unprecedentedsurge in the Covid cases here with reporting nearly 4 lakh cases a day.
Already, Australia has suspendedall direct flights from India for the past three weeks. The decision was takento prevent the nation from the new variants of SARS-CoV-2 that have recentlybeen detected in India.
As per the data of the Australiangovernment, there are around 9,000 Australians stranded in India, and 600 of them are vulnerable to COVID-19.
However, the Australian is keen toexplore the options of bringing back its stranded citizens to their homecountry from India.