Reuters | Canberra | Published 08.05.21, 12:38 AM
Australia will lift a ban on its citizens returning from Covid-ravaged India next week, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, as state officials reported that an outbreak in Sydney appeared to be contained.
Morrison stood by his decision to impose a biosecurity order last month barring all travel to and from India, a policy that drew heavy criticism from lawmakers, expatriates and the Indian diaspora.
Morrison said the travel ban, which was controversially backed by jail terms and financial penalties for anybody who attempted to circumvent it by flying via a third country, had prevented Australia’s hotel quarantine system from being overwhelmed.
Medical staff help a patient with breathing problems towards an ambulance as he is being shifted to a hospital, amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Ahmedabad, India, April 14, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]
With coronavirus infections surging deeper into record territory, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing growing pressure to impose a harsh nationwide lockdown amid criticism that restrictions imposed by individual states are not enough.
Many medical experts, opposition leaders and some Supreme Court judges have suggested that a lockdown seems to be the only option with the virus raging in cities and towns, where hospitals are forced to turn patients away while relatives scramble to find oxygen. Crematoriums and burial grounds are struggling to handle the dead.
The Straits Times
Nations still in search of best formula for coping with crisis
JAPAN: Closed shops in the traditional Tokyo district of Asakusa amid the pandemic. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga yesterday extended Japan s ongoing third state of emergency to May 31 from the intended expiry date of May 11. PHOTO: REUTERS
INDIA: Health workers resting outside a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state. India yesterday saw a record 414,188 new Covid-19 cases, bringing its total to 21.49 million. The number of deaths soared by 3,915 to 234,083.PHOTO: EPA-EFE
UNITED STATES: The Theatre District in Manhattan. Many cosmopolitan US areas such as New York have eased, or will ease, their capacity limits this month in a sign that an aggressive vaccination drive has begun to pay off.PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Saturday, 8 May 2021
Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) President John Coates says Brisbane 2032 is on the final lap, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) conducting due diligence ahead of confirming the city as host of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Coates made the comments during his address to AOC members at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting today.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Brisbane as its preferred bidder for the 2032 Games in March.
The project took its latest step forward in April when Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged the Federal Government will cover half the costs, adding contributions from state and local Governments.
What the Delay in US Help for India Says About the Effectiveness of the Quad
If pressure from media, think tanks and activists is what led the Biden administration to relent now, what happens in even more urgent scenarios?
The fifth series of a consignment of 545 oxygen concentrators from the US, arrives in India on May 4. Photo: Twitter/@PIB India
Rights18 hours ago
Chandigarh: The labour pains Washington endured â before eventually delivering badly-needed medical supplies and related equipment to tackle Indiaâs second calamitous coronavirus pandemic wave â has degraded the timely operational framework of the untested Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, in an emergency.