NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2021) The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs will lift the ban on foreign tourist arrivals within the next 10 days, The Hindu newspaper reported on Sunday, citing ministry officials.
India considers it safe to reopen because of a downward trend in COVID-19 cases, according to the report.
The reopening will proceed in phases in order for the Indian authorities to evaluate the response and consequences, a ministry official was cited as saying.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India is taking steps to return foreign tourists. As part of the effort, the Indian government pledged to issue the first 500,000 tourist visas free of charge after international flights resume.
International and domestic passenger flights in India have been suspended since the end of March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Last July, India started making so-called air bubble arrangement with select countries and cities with good COVID-19 dynamics to resume bilateral flights. To date, India has made such arrangements with 27 countries but has not greenlighted tourist arrivals from any of them.
India has the second highest number of detected coronavirus cases in the world. As of Sunday, the country's total toll exceeds 33.4 million cases, including more than 444,000 deaths and 32.6 million recoveries.
