Australians returning from India may face five years in jail, $51,000 in fines

Bloomberg

Australia has temporarily banned its citizens from returning from India.
The pause on allowing in travellers that were in India within 14 days of arriving will take effect
from Monday, Health
Minister Greg Hunt said in an emailed statement. Breaches of the ban could lead to a fine of A$66,600 ($51,000), five years imprisonment, or both.
As virus cases surge in countries such as India, where daily cases topped 400,000 for the first time on Saturday, there are fears Australia’s quarantine system will buckle with more returning travellers testing positive. While the nation has come close to eliminating local transmission of the virus by closing its international border to non-residents — other than a new travel bubble with New Zealand — occasional cases leak into the community from quarantine hotels.
“The risk assessment that informed the decision was based on the proportion of overseas travellers in quarantine in Australia who have acquired a Covid-19 infection in India,” Hunt said.
Australia banned all flights from India until at least May 15, but it was still possible to fly in through a third country.
The new measure seeks to close that loophole and will be reviewed on May 15.
The government should be doing more to roll out coronavirus vaccines and provide a better quarantine system to protect returning citizens, according to the opposition Labor Party.

Biden bans travel from India as coronavirus cases surge
Bloomberg

President Joe Biden banned most travel to the US from India beginning from Tuesday as the country struggles to combat the worst surge of coronavirus cases in the world.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the ban, which won’t apply to US citizens or permanent
residents.
“The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high Covid-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in the India,” Psaki said.
United Airlines Holdings Inc, the only US carrier with nonstop service to India, said in a statement that it would “comply with all government regulations and travel orders.”