Australians stranded in India will return home on rescue flights from May 15, but those infected with the virus will not be on-board.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Friday the government’s controversial India travel ban will be lifted on May 15, allowing Australians stuck in the COVID-ravaged country to return home.
The government in April banned Australians from returning as the India grapples with the world’s worst COVID-19 outbreak, with those in breach threatened with five years in jail or $66,000 fines.
The measures will be reviewed on May 15, but Mr Morrison confirmed a meeting of cabinet’s national security committee on Thursday had resolved to resume repatriation flights on that day.
“That biosecurity order is working exactly as it was intended to, and that will remain in place with no change until May 15,” he said.
“The national security committee of cabinet has confirmed it will have done its job by then, and as a result we see no need to extend it beyond that date.”
The prime minister ruled out the prospect of the ban being lifted before May 15, saying the measure had been calibrated to ensure repatriation flights returned only when safe.
“It was the smart, sensible, wise and compassionate thing to do to put the pause in place,” he said.
Under the proposal, one repatriation flight per week will be organised and returning Australians will head to the Howard Springs facility in Darwin, rather than the hotel quarantine system.
Mr Morrison said the measure did not point to a lack of confidence in the hotel quarantine system.
“If I told you over a year ago we would have put in place a quarantine system that had 99.99 per cent effectiveness, I’m sure you wouldn’t believe me. But that is what Australia has achieved,” he said.
Mr Morrison said it was unclear how many of the 9,000 Australians stranded in India had contracted the virus, but said anyone who tested positive would not be allowed to board repatriation flight.
“We have rapid antigen testing in place to give ourselves a greater sense of surety that if we are bringing people back to Australia we are minimising the risk of COVID cases of being brought into the country,” he said.
India recorded 412,262 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the world’s biggest single-day increase since the pandemic began, as the country’s health system buckled under the escalating caseload.
The federal government last month announced it would send a range of medical supplies, including oxygen, to alleviate the growing crisis.
Australia’s top universities have also written to the federal government offering their support.
Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson this week contacted Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne and Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farrell, after the controversial travel ban was imposed between the two nations.
Ms Thomson said Indian students had stuck by their universities since Australia’s borders closed in March 2020.
“Many have continued to study online from their homes in India,” she said.
“Group of Eight universities are committed to offering their expertise and ongoing financial and social support to our Indian students, and colleagues, during this most challenging of periods.”
Monash University manages a research academy in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Mumbai.
The campus remains in lockdown, affecting 200 joint PHD students, and staff.
Financial hardship packages, the extension of study timelines and mental health support have already been made available to affected students.
The University of Melbourne is also investigating ways to scale up a device that would enable low-pressure oxygen to be provided without electricity for remote areas.
