France restricting travel from India amid virus surge

A spokesman for France’s government said Wednesday the country would temporarily suspend travel from India as that country experiences a massive surge of COVID-19 infections.

The Associated Press reported that Gabriel Attal, a spokesman for President Emmanuel Macron’s administration, said the travel restrictions, along with other previously announced restrictions on Brazil, Chile, Argentina and South Africa, would go into effect Saturday.

India and Brazil have the second-most and third-most total number of recorded COVID-19 infections in the world, behind the U.S. India recently surpassed Brazil in terms of total COVID-19 cases, and is experiencing a rapid surge of new cases that has threatened to overwhelm the country’s health system.

Multiple news reports have indicated that Indian citizens are being turned away from hospitals in New Delhi, the country’s capital, unless they have a doctor’s referral even if they have a confirmed COVID-19 test result and are experiencing serious symptoms.

France is experiencing its own difficulties controlling a wave of COVID-19 infections, Attal said Wednesday according to the AP, who noted that nursery and primary schools would reopen in the days ahead even as he said the country’s gains against the virus were “not sufficient enough” so far.

“The epidemic is decreasing twice as slow as in November especially due to the English variant,” he said. “The pressure on hospitals is extremely strong.”