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| Edited By: Tridivesh Singh Maini |Source: |Updated: Aug 12, 2021, 10:47 PM IST
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has a large Indian expat population, has resumed flights with India from August 7, 2021. After the outbreak of the second wave of COVID-19 in April 2021, UAE had taken the decision to cancel flights from India.
The UAE has removed restrictions for individuals who have been doubly vaccinated, have a valid residence visa and for transit passengers.
Resumption of flights to UAE, and allowing transit passengers, is especially welcome news for students seeking to travel to the US and UK.
The UK has also removed restrictions on Indian travellers. Indian travellers have been moved from red list to amber list, which means that those who are not fully vaccinated need to quarantine for 10 days, while those who are fully vaccinated need to take a COVID-19 test within two days of arrival in the UK.
Challenges still persist for travellers and students
Indians wanting to travel overseas face a major hurdle. Aside from Covishield, the vaccines available in India, Covaxin and Sputnik, are not accepted in many of the countries.
Recently for instance, an Indian national working in the Gulf asked for a dose of Covishield, since Covaxin, of which he had received the first dose, was not accepted in the UAE. Even in the UK, only Covishield is accepted.
While it is going to take some time before Pfizer and Moderna reach India, there has been a demand urging the Government of India to raise the issue of Covaxin getting approval from more countries. The WHO has stated that Covaxin will get approval soon.
Approval to Sputnik V by more countries will also benefit Indian travellers since a large number of them have been vaccinated with the Russian vaccine.
It would also be important to bear in mind, that while opening up of flights via UAE may have provided some relief for Indian students, until countries like Canada open up direct flights to India students will have to pay exorbitant air fares.
Countries like Australia and New Zealand, which draw a large number of international students, have still not opened their borders, and are not likely to open them before the beginning of 2022. This is likely to pose a major challenge for Indian students.
Given the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic and the severe outbreak of the Delta variant in the US, UK, EU and some ASEAN countries like Vietnam and Indonesia, air travel is likely to open in a staggered manner and countries will be cautious.
While countries are seeking to remove restrictions for tourists who are doubly vaccinated, opening of air travel will also hinge upon the success of the current vaccines in providing protection against the different variants of COVID-19.
India is likely to focus on opening up air bubbles with countries which are home to a large diaspora, professionals and which are important higher education destinations for Indian students.
In conclusion, while the removal of certain restrictions for Indian nationals is a positive development, and India would be hoping that other countries also relax restrictions, a lot will depend upon the trajectory of the pandemic in other countries as well as India.
It is also important for India to either get approval for all vaccines available in India, or for providing more vaccine options so that those seeking to travel or study overseas face no problems.
The author is a New Delhi-based policy analyst associated with the OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat
(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own and do not reflect those of DNA.)
