As per the previous concerns of skilled international crowds not coming to the USA, the US has lowered its travel restrictions for the Indians, they have come from Level 4, “do not travel” to Level 3, “reconsider travelling” with the Covid 19 situation still easing significantly in India, the US government has lowered the travel criteria from the US to India.
The Canadian government who has taken up the decision to consider the health of the safety of their citizens first has extended the suspension of flights from India by a month and will resume the flights till August 21, and overall i.e. for non-essential travel the decision is taken up to open the flights from September 7, only for those who are fully vaccinated.
On July 19 (Monday), the US department has revised the travel advisory for India and now the state, “The centres for disease control and prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 3 Travel health Notice for India due to COVID-19 indicating a high level of COVID-19 in the country. Your risk of contracting COVID-19 and developing severe symptoms may be lower if you are fully vaccinated with an FDA authorised vaccine...”
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The CDC website told, “Make sure you are fully vaccinated before travelling to India. Unvaccinated travellers should avoid nonessential travel to India. Because of the current situation in India, all travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading Covid 19 variants.”
The stages of travel in the US are:
Level 1: Normal precautions
Level 2: Exercise increased
Level 3: Reconsider travel
Level 4: Do not travel
In April end, the US had put India on level 4 when the fatal second wave was on peak and the travel advising was against travel to India. The warning which was given in April end to India said, “Level 4 travel advisory is the highest level issued by the Department of State and advises the US citizens not to travel to India or to leave as soon as it is safe to do so due to the current health situation in country,” the stage 4 warning for India had told.
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Talking of Canada, the country had suspended the commercial as well as private passenger flights from India on April 23, 2021 and has extended the same till August 21, 2021. But soon the nation is expected to open flights for all in early September.
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau opened up on his Twitter account on Tuesday morning and tweeted, “Update: As of September 7th, fully-vaccinated people from any country can come into Canada for non-essential travel. As a first step, fully-vaccinated Americans can do the same starting August 9th. At every step, the safety of Canadians will continue to be our top priority.”
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Further added, “From August 9, 2021, fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents of US, currently residing in the US, currently residing in the US will be permitted to enter Canada for non-essential travel. Entry to Canada will resume to be suspended for US travellers who are not fully vaccinated and for all other foreign nationals, unless they already meet an exemption set out in the Orders made under the Quarantine act.”
The passengers, who are travelling, need to wear masks in Canadian airports, on board flights which can be travel to, from and within Canada, with exceptions as well as their vaccination status.