Canada had suspendeddirect flights from India on April 22. But despite the cost and the lengthyjourney involved, several overseas students from Punjab are re-routing theirtravel to Canada via Moscow, Mexico, Serbia, Qatar, Dubai among othercountries. At several international airports, they are required to stay for aday to get their RT-PCR done which is apart from the requirement of beingvaccinated against Covid-19 before starting the journey from home.
“Canada has extendedits ban on direct passenger flights from India until September 21 amid theSouth Asian country's enduring struggles to contain the spread of COVID-19within its borders,” Transport Canada said.
"Based on thelatest public health advice from the Public Health Agency of Canada, TransportCanada is extending the Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) that restricts all directcommercial and private passenger flights to Canada from India until September21, 2021, at 23:59 EDT," the department said in a statement.
“If a student testspositive then they will have to stay in those countries till they get thenegative report after the treatment which is even more costly but students aretaking all the risks to reach Canada,’’ said student Ramneek.
“But we have no otheroption because Canadian government is extending the ban on direct travellingquite often as earlier it was till July end and now this has been extended toAugust end. In such a situation it is better to re-route the travel rather thansitting here and taking online classes,” said another student Harpreet Singh,who got a one-way ticket for Rs 1.20 lakh and will spend nearly Rs 60,000 onhis stay before entering Canada.
In normal times, theticket to Canada costs around Rs 50,000.
“Even after gettingdouble dose and RT-PCR from the country of our stay on the way, when we land inCanada, we are asked to quarantine further,” said another student who reachedCanada recently.
The ban was firstimposed on April 22 and has already been rolled over several times. It is thefifth time the ban has been extended.