[Photo/Agencies]
The United States government has announced that students from China will be exempt from the remaining travel bans related to COVID-19, but experts said the students still face hurdles such as visa-processing backlogs.
The US State Department said in a statement dated Monday that it made a national interest determination to exempt certain categories of travelers from the travel restrictions imposed by former US president Donald Trump s administration last year.
Those eligible for exemptions include students, academics, journalists and individuals seeking to provide vital support for critical infrastructure , from China, Brazil, Iran, South Africa, the 26-nation Schengen Area in Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
By BO LEUNG in London | China Daily Global | Updated: 2021-04-29 10:33 Share CLOSE A tourist visits the archaeological site of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, as it reopens to the public after much of the country became a yellow zone , loosening coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions, in Pompeii, Italy, April 27, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]
Many holiday and tourist destinations across Europe are putting revival plans in place in an attempt to boost the continent s travel and tourism sector, which has been severely impacted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council s annual Economic Impact Report, the sector suffered a massive loss of almost $4.5 trillion in 2020 due to the pandemic.
India: Covid black market prospers as hospitals struggle with vanishing supplies
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29/04/2021 - 12:52 India is struggling to provide oxygen vital for the treatment of seriously ill Covid-19 patients NARINDER NANU AFP/File 5 min As the number of Covid cases soar across India, police have begun cracking down on hoarders as frantic citizens turn to the black market for oxygen and drugs to save lives as hospitals ran out of supplies and beds. Advertising Read more
Physicians said the black market would flourish because of growing shortages and mounting desperation in this dark chapter of Indian history.
“If we as an institution, as a state fail to help people then they would go the dark bazaar for oxygen or drugs to try and treat their loved ones at home,” said a pulmonologist from a government-run hospital in Delhi, which Thursday posted 25,986 fresh infections and 368 Covid death