Coronavirus: Canada lifts ban on direct flights from India

Canada on Sunday announced that it has lifted the ban on direct flights from India after a gap of more than five months.

“Beginning at 00:01 EDT [9:31 am according to Indian Standard Time] on September 27, direct flights from India can land in Canada with additional public health measures in place,” Transport Canada tweeted.

Travellers will have to produce negative Covid-19 certificates at the Delhi airport. The tests should have been taken within 18 hours of the departure of their flight to Canada and must be from an approved laboratory.

Before boarding, air operators will check test the results of travellers to ensure that they are eligible to travel to Canada.

Fully vaccinated travellers have to upload their information on the ArriveCAN website or mobile application, Transport Canada had said in its guidelines on September 21. “Travellers who are unable to meet these requirements will be denied boarding.”

Canada’s updated travel guidelines said that those who have contracted Covid-19 previously can show their positive test report for travelling, the Hindustan Times reported. “The date of collection must be between 14 and 180 days before their scheduled departure to Canada” the guidelines said.”

Ajay Bisaria, India’s high commissioner to Ottawa, welcomed Canada’s decision to allow flights from India.

“Great to see a decisive step towards normalising air mobility between India and Canada,” he tweeted. “Air India and Air Canada now set to run daily flights between Delhi and Toronto/Vancouver from 27 September. Working with Canadian partners to further ease travel.”

India is witnessing a decline in its daily Covid-19 cases. On Sunday, it registered 28,326 infections, taking the overall tally since the beginning of the pandemic in January last year to 3,36,52,745. The country’s toll rose by 260 to 4,46,918.