Posted on 05/03/2021 3:40:02 AM PDT by RC one
Australia on Monday defended its decision to penalise its own citizens entering the country within two weeks of being in COVID-ravaged India, saying it had "strong, clear and absolute" belief the move was legal.
Health Minister Greg Hunt pointed to the alarming surge of coronavirus cases in India and the pressure on Australia's health system as reasons to pause travel until May 15.
Australia's quarantine hotels have seen a 1,500% spike in COVID-19 cases from India since March, raising questions about pre-departure testing in India and leading to this "agonising decision," Hunt said.
Australia, which has largely contained the novel coronavirus, closed its borders to non-citizens in March 2020.
Returning residents and citizens must undergo a mandatory two-week hotel quarantine at their own expense. Australia has seen 22,245 cases of community transmission and 910 deaths through the pandemic.
Roughly a quarter of the 35,000 Australians stranded overseas are in India, which reported close to 400,000 cases on Friday and more than 200,000 total deaths. Australia clocked zero cases of community transmission on Monday.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Has anyone asked Joe Biden if Australia is being xenophobic? if not, someone should.
Panicdemic or not, you are crazy if you go to India.
This is a much better response rather then shutting down the whole country.🤔
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