THE United States state department has eased its Covid-19-related travel advisory to India to “Level 3 – Reconsider Travel”. Similarly, it also lowered travel advisory for Pakistan. Previously, the Covid-19-related advisories were at the highest Level 4 that advises against travelling.
The department lowered the advisories in a statement issued on Tuesday (20).
India’s daily coronavirus cases have fallen to four-month lows after a devastating second wave that left its health infrastructure in a shambles. Experts have warned the authorities against swift reopening of cities and expressed concern over overcrowding against a possible third wave.
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The USA’s decision does not affect travel restrictions imposed in May that stopped nearly all non-US citizens from entering the country who have been in India within the last fortnight.
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Similar travel restrictions are also in place for countries like South Africa, Brazil, Iran, China, Ireland, the UK and 26 nations in Europe that allow travel across open borders, Reuters reported.
Permanent American residents and family members and other non-US citizens, like students, are exempted.
The Joe Biden administration in the US is holding a fresh round of high-level meetings this week about restrictions on travel, sources told Reuters, but has not given any indication of lifting them quickly.
“Any decisions about reopening travel will be guided by our public health and medical experts. We take this incredibly seriously,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday (18).
Nearly all people travelling to the US by air must produce evidence of a negative coronavirus test or recovery from Covid-19.
Army personnel stand amid the rubble following an explosion inside the police headquarters at Kohat in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on September 18, 2026. An explosion at a historic police headquarters in northern Pakistan on September 18 killed at least eight people and wounded 35 more, officials said, with the country's president swiftly blaming a militant group. Getty Images
Mourners read the holy Quran while sitting around the grave of a paramilitary personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) who was killed during the Afghanistan-Pakistan border clashes, in Kohat on October 17, 2025. A ceasefire along the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan was holding on October 16, officials on both sides said, after dozens of troops and civilians were killed in cross-border clashes.Getty Images
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