International travel to the popular tourist destination has been back on the cards since the end of March when flights resumed.

Here’s what you need to know to make the most of your Asian adventure, without falling foul of the current travel requirements.

What are India’s travel restrictions?

If you’re fully vaccinated, you must submit a self-declaration form on the online Air Suvidha portal before travelling. By including proof of vaccination, you don’t need to show a negative PCR test result on arrival.

If you’re not fully vaccinated, you need to upload and authenticate a negative PCR test, carried out by a private company, taken in the 72 hours before travelling.

There is no longer a requirement to test on arrival, quarantine or take a PCR test on the eighth day of arrival in India.

Visitors are advised to self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days. You may need to provide contact details and download the Aarogya Setu app (India’s contact tracing and self-assessment digital service).

Random COVID-19 testing is taking place on arrival in airports and all passengers are subject to thermal screening.

Don’t forget that you’ll need a mask for your flight and it must be worn within airports, too.

Travellers seen standing while waiting for the cabin crew’s instructions at Kolkata International Airport.Avishek Das / SOPA Images/Sipa U via Reuters Connect

Do I need to wear a mask in India?

Some states, including popular tourist destinations, have reintroduced fines for failing to wear a mask in public places, amid concerns about a surge of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.

Goa, Kerala, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, home to the Taj Mahal, are among the states that dropped mask-wearing rules, only to reintroduce them within weeks.

What are COVID-19 case numbers in India right now?

Unfortunately COVID-19 is on the rise, with more than 22,200 new cases recorded last week (April 25- to 1 May), up 41 per cent from the previous week.

But there has been no increase in the number of deaths and debate is ongoing about whether the surge in cases should be described as a fourth wave, given that 70 per cent of cases are happening in just three states.

Is it safe to travel in India?

It’s not just COVID-19 that could affect visitors to India.

An unseasonably early heatwave is causing deaths in central and northwestern India, after the hottest March since 1961.

A boy drinks soda at a promenade on the Arabian Sea coast in Mumbai, India.AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool

More than one million Brits travelled to India in 2019, with most visits being trouble-free, according to UK government advice.

But bear in mind that travellers could be affected by summer monsoons, air pollution in cities, stampedes at busy festivals, terrorist threats at tourist sites and sexual violence against women.

Where are the best places to visit in India?

Once you’re all set to jet off, here are some top spots you’ll love in incredible India.

A Himalayan high for nature lovers

The Valley of Flowers National Park in Uttarakhand is a gorgeous mix of mountains and meadows.

This UNESCO world heritage site first came to the attention of the wider world when it was stumbled upon by three British mountaineers who had lost their way in 1931.

The Valley of the Flowers National Park in Uttarakhand, India.Getty via Canva

Best visited in the Indian summer months (March-June), the park is 3,600m above sea level and is home to more than 600 species of exotic flowers like orchids and anemones, sub-alpine forests, waterfalls and rare wildlife including flying squirrels and snow leopards.

Bungee jumping in Goa: thrill-seekers will love this leap over a lake

Adventure travel is on the rise in India, with rock climbing, paragliding and rafting all proving increasingly popular.

Jumpin Heights, a 55m bungee-jumping platform, gives you amazing views over Mayem lake, in North Goa, about a 45-minute drive from the popular Baga Beach.

It opened just before the pandemic but its sister site at Rishikesh in Uttarakhand has been established since 2010. 100,000 thrill-seekers have taken the plunge since then so you know you’re in safe hands.

Beaches and backwaters in Kerala: perfect for laid-back travellers looking for lazy days by the water

Kerala is nicknamed God’s own country and for good reason. Its delicate ecosystem is built around lagoons, lakes and backwaters, with five national parks and stunning beaches to relax on.

Women travel by boat on the backwaters of Alappuzha, Kerala.SEBASTIEN BERGER/AFP

For the more adventurous, coracle rafting can be the perfect way to take to the water and get closer to wildlife. Also known as bowl boat riding, each round bamboo raft is rowed by a group of four riders, so it doubles up as a fun team sport.

Head to Tamil Nadu for a heady mix of heritage and health

The countdown is on to International Yoga Day, on 21 June this year. Where better than

India to celebrate the day dedicated to looking after your mental and physical wellbeing?

Retreats across the country are planning special events for the day, but it’ll be hard to beat the stunning backdrop of Gingee Fort and the lush landscape of Tamil Nadu for yogis looking for the perfect spot to practise.

The post India is open again but where should you explore first? first appeared on Magazin Haber Ajansı.

Currently, nearly all passengers have to take a test within one day of their journey. Most unvaccinated foreigners are barred. But with a busy summer season round the corner, how long will these strict measures hold?

In the latest pushback from the travel sector, more than 260 firms signed a letter to the Whitehouse on Thursday, demanding an “urgent repeal” of the pre-departure testing rule.

“It is time for the Biden administration to lead the country toward a new normal for travel and on a faster road to a full economic recovery,” according to the letter from the US Travel Association (USTA).

It follows a major development on 18 April, when a federal judge blocked President Biden’s plan to extend mandatory mask wearing on planes, trains and other public transport. That means masks are now optional as far as the US transit authority is concerned.

A White House press secretary called the decision “disappointing”, in a sign that the Biden administration is not ready to deviate from the USA’s public health agency’s advice just yet – which still recommends face coverings on public transport.

“We are always reviewing our guidance and new science that becomes available,” a spokesperson for the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) told Euronews Travel in response to a question on when the entry rules are likely to ease.

In the meantime, here are the current US entry rules – and the indications that they could change soon.

When will the US drop its pre-departure testing rule?

Passengers wait in line at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, 19 April 2022 – a day after masks on planes were made optional by a federal judge.Evan Vucci/Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

At present, all travellers – regardless of vaccination status or citizenship – are required to get a COVID-19 test no more than one day before travelling by air into the US. This is distinct from 24 hours: it means the test can be taken at any point on the day before you travel.

Rapid antigen, PCR and a number of other kinds of tests are accepted. Only children under two years old are exempt from this requirement.

On arrival, fully vaccinated visitors do not have to quarantine, but are recommended to take another viral test within three to five days of arrival. All air passengers are also required to provide contact information to their airlines before boarding.

It’s not too onerous a rule – compared to peak pandemic admin – but the costs involved may mean that some European tourists choose test-free destinations instead, such as Thailand, for their long-haul summer break. Not to mention the cost of having a major trip derailed at the last minute.

But despite the CDC giving little away, US airlines have hinted that the rules could ease in a matter of weeks.

“We are hearing good things from Washington,” US airline Delta president Glen Hauenstein reportedly told analysts during a meeting on 13 April. “Hopefully that [the testing requirement] gets rolled back in the next few weeks.”

According to the i paper, the company’s chief legal officer added, “We are getting a strong indication that pre-departure testing will be phased out in the near future, which is quite encouraging.”

Could a legal campaign get rid of America’s testing rule?

This will be good news for America’s long-suffering travel industry, when it happens. ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) recently dubbed the pre-departure test “the single biggest barrier” to travel’s recovery.

The Society is behind efforts by a group of lawmakers to lift the testing requirement by legal means. California congressman Lou Correa has asked the White House to exempt fully vaxxed inbound travellers from having to provide proof of a negative test.

“While we understand the rationale behind the inbound testing order when it was put in place in January 2021, it continues to present a number of challenges to our constituents who must, or desire, to travel internationally,” the group wrote in a letter to Biden dated 12 April (which mistakenly described it as a ‘24 hour’ rule).

With American travel to Europe set to soar by 600 per cent this summer, compared to 2021, there will be pressure from holiday-makers across the States to ease this rule.

“Travellers are scared of being stranded abroad and having their vacation plans wrecked, which is preventing the revival of our domestic travel and tourism industries,” Rep. Correa added. “It is past time for our testing criteria to be brought into line with those used by other countries.”

The new letter from USTA to White House COVID response co-ordinator Dr Ashish Jha also points to the example of other countries with similar infection, vaccination and hospitalisation rates – such as the UK, Germany and Canada – which have already dropped pre-departure tests.

“Further, since the federal government does not require negative tests for entry at our land-border ports of entry with Canada and Mexico, it no longer makes sense to keep a pre-departure Covid testing requirement in place for vaccinated international air travellers to the US,” the letter adds.

When will unvaccinated tourists be allowed back to the US?

People wear masks in a transit hub in the financial district of lower Manhattan, New York, on 19 April 2022.John Minchillo/AP Photo

Generally speaking, the US is not open to unvaccinated tourists. The EU Digital Covid Certificate (EUDCC) and the UK’s NHS Covid Pass are both acceptable forms of proof that you are double-jabbed, with the second dose administered no less than 14 days before departure. Booster jabs are not currently required in the US.

Being recently recovered (having tested positive for the virus in the last year) is not enough to gain entry, either.

Children under 18 years old do not need to be vaccinated to visit America, and there are a few other exceptions for non-US citizens.

“If there are any changes, we will update the public accordingly,” a CDC spokesperson said.

But one sign of relaxation on this front again comes from airlines. Last month, United Airlines dropped the requirement for its own staff to be vaccinated.

Travel experts aren’t sure if unvaccinated citizens will be welcomed back before summer, but with the world in an increasingly strong position against the virus, 2022 is likely to be the year the US fully reopens.

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A study has looked into what sort of messaging was most effective in convincing these groups, and there was a clear winner in the United Kingdom: the likelihood of being able to travel abroad.

Other countries saw different results, however, with a number of European populations not swayed by the promise of a vaccine passport.

Researchers found that in countries with populations with lower levels of basic knowledge about health and higher prevalence of conspiracy theories, unvaccinated adults were less likely to change their mind regardless of the public messaging.

COVID-19 vaccines have proved a powerful tool in protecting health services by reducing the chances of people becoming seriously ill with coronavirus. But a significant minority of the population in many European countries remain sceptical about getting vaccinated, due to a number of factors. 

These include mistrust of authorities, as well as worries about the speed of vaccine development and potential side effects.

Researchers from the London School of Economics, the Technical University of Munich, and the University of Trento studied more than 10,000 unvaccinated adults in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Bulgaria.

There was a big variation in vaccine take-up across the eight countries at the time of the study, with hesitancy at around 61 per cent in Bulgaria and as low as 6.4 per cent in Spain.

Three messages, mixed results

During the spring and summer of 2021, the adults in the study were given information about the COVID-19 vaccines available to them, and also shown one of three messages from public health campaigns aimed at increasing vaccination rates.

One emphasised how the vaccines reduce the risk of serious illness or death.

The second showed how a vaccine passport would reopen travel abroad.

The third explained how vaccinated people were free to enjoy restaurants, cinemas, and gyms without restrictions.

All three messages were effective in convincing German adults.

In the UK, the promise of being able to travel abroad brought the number of people willing to be vaccinated up from 22 per cent to 28 per cent.

However, in all the other countries, none of the messages were effective, with unvaccinated adults in Spain and Italy becoming even less likely to get vaccinated after reading the messages.

So why did something that worked in Germany backfire in Italy and Spain?

“One plausible explanation is the difference in health literacy levels in Germany compared to Italy and Spain,” Matteo Galizzi, associate professor of behavioural science at LSE and one of the authors of the study, told Euronews Next.

People don’t all have the same ability to understand the basics of risk and risk reduction, and have different views on the benefit-risk balance of getting vaccinated depending on their own age and health, he said.

Vaccine hesitancy gender gap

One notable pattern the study picked up was the gender gap in vaccine hesitancy rates, with women more hesitant in five of the eight countries surveyed.

“In most of the countries we find a statistically significant and relevant difference between men and women in vaccine hesitancy, Galizzi said, adding that “it is one of the first times it is documented so clearly”.

He said this could potentially be attributed to two things. Firstly, the fear about side effects from vaccines, and specifically worries about effects on fertility.

Secondly, the fact that COVID-19 illness seems to affect women less seriously than men, which “could potentially be an almost rational reaction to explaining more resistance to vaccination”.

Lessons for policymakers

The researchers say the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances, provides significant lessons for current and future vaccination campaigns.

While the European Commission has called for a coordinated vaccination strategy across the EU, the researchers cautioned against a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

Galizzi argued that while coordinated vaccination campaigns can be beneficial regarding provision of vaccines or prioritisation of certain users, “vaccination campaigns must be tailored at the level of individual countries”.

“There is no single vaccination campaign, or public health message that we have tested, that is working across all the countries,” he said.

One of the study’s key takeaways stems from the fact the acceptance of either the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna on the one hand, or AstraZeneca’s jab on the other, varied significantly from one country to the next.

It showed a third of British participants reported high levels of trust in the UK-made vaccine, compared to less than 5 per cent of German and Italian participants.

“These insights motivate an important policy lesson: COVID-19 vaccination and booster campaigns will likely be more effective if citizens can actively decide which kind of vaccine they will receive,” the study’s authors wrote.

The researchers argue public health messages focusing on the rigorous and extensive testing of vaccines, as well as transparent communication about prevalence, prevention, and treatment of possible side effects, could prove most effective in addressing the concerns of vaccine-hesitant adults.

“This study shows that public health messaging – and subtle information nudges – can shape our decisions. We now know the major reasons why some adults are hesitant to get the vaccine,” said Galizzi.

“Public health messages need to respond to these concerns, and to focus on communicating the rigorous and extensive testing of vaccines, and the extent to which risks of side effects from jabs compare to risks from COVID and long COVID,” he added.

The post How do you get a reluctant Briton, German or Italian vaccinated? first appeared on Magazin Haber Ajansı.

The country has long been renowned for its breathtaking scenery and adventure tourism offerings such as bungee jumping and skiing. Before the spread of COVID-19, more than 3 million tourists visited each year, accounting for 20% of New Zealand’s foreign income and more than 5% of the overall economy.

But international tourism stopped altogether in early 2020 after New Zealand imposed some of the world’s toughest border restrictions.

The border rules remained in place as the government at first pursued an elimination strategy and then tried to tightly control the spread of the virus.

The spread of omicron and vaccinations of more than 80% of New Zealand’s 5 million population prompted the gradual easing of restrictions.

New Zealand reopened to tourists from Australia three weeks ago and on Monday to about 60 visa-waiver countries, including much of Europe.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters in Wellington that the new arrivals will further boost New Zealand’s economy.

Most tourists from India, China and other non-waiver countries are still not allowed to enter.

Tourists will need to be vaccinated and to test themselves for the virus after arriving.

At Auckland Airport, flights bringing in tourists began landing from early in the morning, coming in direct from places including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

The border reopening will help boost tourism ahead of New Zealand’s upcoming ski season. But the real test of how much the tourism industry rebounds will come in December, when the peak summer season begins in the Southern Hemisphere nation.

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After two dramatic years plagued with shock, anxiety, chaos, outrage, fatigue and, for the most part, simple boredom, Europeans appear to have decided to collectively move on from the lethal pandemic that upended every single aspect of their daily lives, triggered a once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis and forever transformed professional and personal habits.

The continent has had enough of travel restrictions, city curfews, business closures and QR-powered passports. The mask is off and the music is in: the Venice Carnival, the Glastonbury Festival and the Munich Oktoberfest are all back, anxious to make up for the time lost in hibernation.

The sudden shift was a long time coming: ever since the first wave of coronavirus infections began to wane in mid-2020, Europeans have been impatiently waiting for the perfect chance to turn the page and erase all nasal swabs from memory.

But the sought-after transition was repeatedly hijacked by the emergence of new and increasingly contagious virus variants and the subsequent re-establishment of lockdown measures, an on-and-off dynamic that soon produced a widespread and dizzying feeling of déjà vu.

When news arrived that the highly infectious Omicron variant was in fact causing relatively mild and manageable symptoms, many saw the end nearer than ever. 

Emboldened by a successful vaccination roll-out, European countries started to gradually lift rules, curbs and regulations until they became marginal and, in some cases, symbolic.

Spain, one of the hardest-hit nations by the pandemic, revoked its two-year-long decree that imposed mandatory mask-wearing in outdoors and indoor spaces, relegating the practice to just public transport and healthcare premises.

Austria repealed its so-called 3G rules (vaccinated, recovered or tested) to enter restaurants, bars and clubs while France completely abolished its green pass, a pioneering initiative that inspired other countries to follow suit but fuelled weeks of popular discontent.

Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Ireland and the United Kingdom also moved to pull the plug on all or most restrictions.

Denmark took things a step further when it became the first European country to halt its COVID-19 vaccination programme, arguing the inoculation coverage – over 82% of the population are double-jabbed – is enough to contain the pandemic at its present stage.

“We are in a good place. Spring has come and we have good control of the epidemic, which seems to be subsiding,” said Bolette Søborg, unit manager at the country’s National Board of Health.

The Danish authority plans to resume the programme again in autumn, when infections are expected to rise and new variants might spread.

The cascade of developments led the European Commission to declare the pandemic had entered a new chapter, one in which counting every single case is rendered redundant. Instead of massive testing, the executive recommended, countries should focus on targeted and reliable samples to detect new variants.

“We are entering another phase of the pandemic,” said Stella Kyriakides, EU Commissioner for health, in late April. “A new phase that requires us to rethink how we manage the virus.”

Kyriakides encouraged the campaign of booster doses to carry on and pointedly noted that over 90 million of EU citizens remain unvaccinated.

“A great deal has been achieved, but preparedness and structural resilience are key,” she added.

Notably, the Commissioner said that between 60 and 80% of the bloc’s population are estimated to have been infected by the virus at one point over the past two years.

The limits of human resilience

The sheer numbers raise the question on how much tolerance Europeans have left to cope with a disease that has achieved such degree of omnipresence in their daily lives.

Governments have become acutely aware of the narrowing will of citizens to sustain the burden of restrictions, a realisation made evident by how quickly countries moved to lift the exceptional measures as soon as the Omicron wave peaked in January.

Media too appear to be in a rush to leave the virus behind and switch up the conversation.

The pandemic has been pushed out of the front page to make way for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, international sanctions and soaring energy prices. Google Trends shows a steady decrease in interest for the term “COVID-19” across the largest European countries.

But this joint effort to make a fresh start hides two uncomfortable truths.

First, the pandemic is not over. Europeans continue to succumb to the disease on a daily basis, even if hospitals are no longer overwhelmed (more than 13,000 deaths were registered in April).

In Asia, Omicron is wreaking havoc, with China imposing a draconian zero-COVID strategy that is igniting public anger and disrupting global supply chains. And around the world, vaccine inequality remains alarmingly high: only 15% of people in low-income countries have received the first dose.

“Although reported cases and deaths are declining globally, and several countries have lifted restrictions, the pandemic is far from over – and it will not be over anywhere until it’s over everywhere,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, director of the World Health Organization (WHO), in early March while marking two years since the international body defined COVID-19 as a pandemic.

The second truth masked underneath this sudden transition is the fact that some people are neither willing nor ready to move on from the virus, at least not so fast. In some instances, the trauma of living two years in a state of constant alarm can prove paralysing, despite the overall outlook giving cause for optimism.

Many Europeans continue to struggle with the long-term mental effects from the pandemic, even if governments have dropped most restrictions.Francois Mori/Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

“The general impression is that people are moving on really quickly and behaving as if COVID didn’t exist anymore. I think, however, that this kind of broad vision is not common to everybody,” Carmine Pariante, professor of biological psychiatry at King’s College London, told Euronews.

“The level of anxiety in the population about COVID is still very high. There are a lot of people who are still struggling with socialising in groups, going to restaurants, going to crowded places. And even if they’re doing it, they feel a lot of anxiety about it. So the normalisation will be progressive.”

Mental health has been one of the main casualties of the virus. In the first year of the pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a stunning 25% rate, according to a scientific brief released in March by the WHO.

The organisation cites the “unprecedented stress caused by social isolation” as the driver behind the worrying trend, coupled with loneliness, fear of infection, grief after bereavement, financial problems and, in the case of essential workers, physical exhaustion.

These mental health scars will be long-term and far-reaching, experts warn, and will persist within our societies as infections continue to drop. It will be up to governments to decide how much prominence – and, most importantly, investment – they give to the virus and its ripple effects in the coming years.

These political decisions will in turn determine how fast the collective consciousness moves on from the deadly disease and enters the post-COVID era, Pariante said.

“If [national] leaders drop COVID-19 completely from the agenda, then, I think, we will forget it too,” the professor noted.

“But there will be lots of vulnerable people who will be affected by the consequences of the pandemic for a long time, even if society overall may bounce back.”

The post Europeans have decided COVID-19 is over. It isn’t. first appeared on Magazin Haber Ajansı.