The United States on Monday relaxed its travel restrictions to India, an advisory from the country’s state department showed.

The US now has now placed India on level 3, which asks its citizens to “reconsider travel to India due to Covid-19”. On May 5, India was put on the highest category of level 4, which advised against travel.

The level three advisory urges Americans to be more careful in areas where there is more crime and terror activities.

“Your risk of contracting Covid-19 and developing severe symptoms may be lower if you are fully vaccinated with an FDA [Food and Drug Administration] authorized vaccine,” the US state department said. “Before planning any international travel, please review the CDC’s specific recommendations for vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers.”

The relaxation came as India has registered a drop in daily cases and deaths over the past few weeks. On Tuesday morning, India recorded 30,093 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours. This was 21.14% less than Monday’s tally of 38,164 cases and the lowest since March 17, when the country registered 28,903 new cases. The country’s total tally of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in January last year is now 3,11,74,322.

Travel restrictions to Pakistan have also been eased from level 4 to level 3. “Reconsider travel to Pakistan due to terrorism and sectarian violence,” the statement read. “Exercise increased caution in Pakistan due to Covid-19. Some areas have increased risk.”

Meanwhile, Canada has extended the ban on regular passenger flights from India till August 21. The ban was set to expire on July 21.

“Passengers who travel to Canada from India via an indirect route will need to obtain a pre-departure negative Covid-19 molecular (RT-PCR) test result from a third country before continuing their journey to Canada,” the government said.


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Covid-19: India reports 30,093 new cases in last 24 hours – lowest daily count since March 17