Australia news live update: repatriation flights from India to double in May; NSW reports no new local Covid cases
Scott Morrison says India travel ban will not be extended and flags six repatriation flights this month; part of ABC’s Christian Porter defamation defence to be suppressed for now. Follow latest updates
- NSW has no new local coronavirus cases
- Australia to start repatriating citizens stuck in India when flight ban ends
- NSW Covid hotspots: Sydney and regional case locations
- Sydney and NSW Covid restrictions: new rules for Mother’s Day weekend
A newsflash from the Covid committee: there are 173 unaccompanied children in India who are trying to return to Australia.
Lynette Wood, of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, told the Senate hearing a short time ago:
In our database we have 173 clients registered as under 18 in India outside of a family group – that is, they’re on their own and seeking to return to Australia.
Asked if he is aware of any Australian citizens who have died of Covid in India while waiting to return home, Barry O’Farrell, Australia’s high commissioner to India, says Dfat is providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian permanent resident who reportedly has died in the country.
O’Farrell, the Australian high commissioner, says the department won’t provide any further comment owing to its privacy obligations.
Read the original article at The Guardian