Omicron scare: With surge in COVID-19 cases, a look at travel restrictions across countries

With the advent of the new Omicron variant, a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases has emerged from around the world. The United Kingdom, Australia and parts of the United States reported a record virus surge. India has also reported 87 cases of the Omicron variant with Delhi and Mumbai reporting a high number of cases.

United States

The New York State Department of Health reported 18,276 new cases on Thursday, the most since mid-January. The United States has outlined several measures to fight the Omicron outbreak. It has asked international travellers to do a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of arriving on US soil. It has mandated wearing masks on buses, trains and flights until March next year.

President Joe Biden has urged citizens to come forward and get vaccinated, including booster shots for adults and jabs for kids. 

United Kingdom

New COVID-19 cases in the UK hit a record high for the second consecutive day on Thursday. Britain reported 88,376 new infections, the highest since the start of the pandemic. "With Omicron now seeded around the world, 'red list' travel bans wouldn't be effective or proportionate," said Boris Johnson's spokesman, Max Blain. 

UK will lift COVID-19 travel ban on arrivals from 11 African countries including South Africa from its 'red list'. Currently, only British and Irish citizens or those who have UK residence rights can fly in from the red-listed countries and they have to quarantine in hotels on arrival.

Australia

The country reported a record 2,213 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest number since the pandemic began. New South Wales reported a new peak following 1,742 cases on Thursday which has topped the previous record set in September.

Australia's travel ban on eight southern African countries in response to concerns over the Omicron variant has been scrapped by the federal government. This meant anyone who had been in these countries and was not an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or their immediate family was denied entry to Australia. 

France

France will ban non-essential travel to and from Britain from the weekend to slow the spread of the Omicron variant that is causing record numbers of cases on the other side of the Channel, the government said Thursday. It added that French citizens and EU nationals could still return to France from the UK. The travellers returning will need a negative test less than 24 hours old, and a blanket quarantine would be enforced on return to France.

Germany

Travellers who are entitled to travel to Germany aged twelve years or older must hold proof of a negative COVID-19 test result or proof of a full COVID-19 vaccination or proof of recovery from an infection upon entering Germany. This proof must be held prior to entering the country and must be presented to the airline before departure where applicable. 

India

The Government has revised new COVID-related guidelines for passengers travelling to India from December 20. Amid the threat of Omicron, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said that passengers coming from 'at-risk' countries will have to compulsorily pre-book for the on-arrival RT-PCR test on Air Suvidha Portal. The portal will be modified to allow the passengers to mandatorily pre-book the RT PCR test if they are coming from the countries 'at risk' or have visited 'at risk' countries in the last 14 days.

The pre-booking testing will be implemented at six major airports - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. However, in case a person is unable to do so the passengers will not be denied to board a flight, the ministry added.