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Serious Racist Aussies Banned Ah Neh Flights! Sinkies are bestest!

News in Punjabi: Australia suspends all flights from India amid coronavirus surge
Australia has temporarily paused all direct passenger flights from India. Source: EPA
The Federal Government is suspending all passenger flights from India to Australia until at least the 15th of May. Restrictions have also been imposed on indirect flights. This and more in tonight’s news bulletin…
Updated
Updated 16 hours ago
Highlights:
  • Australia suspends all flights from India until at least mid-May.
  • The federal government defends Australia's hotel quarantine system, amid calls for a new strategy.
  • And in sport, Australian cricket stars withdraw from the Indian Premier League to return to Australia.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says an assistance package will be sent to India by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
"500 non-invasive ventilators. One million surgical masks. 500,000 p2 and N95 masks. 100,000 surgical gowns. 100,000 goggles. 100,000 pairs of gloves. 20,000 face shields. We will also agree to commence procurement of 100 oxygen concentrates along with tanks and consumables.”
Foreign Minister Marise Payne says there had been eight DFAT-commissioned charter flights planned from India in May but they would now be paused.
"For Australians in India and their loved ones, this is a difficult time. For Indian Australians, many here in Australia will be very concerned about family as well. We currently have just over 9,000 Australians registered in India, 650 of those are registered as vulnerable. As you expect under the circumstances this number will certainly increase over the coming days and weeks."
(Consular contact numbers are 1300 555 135 and from outside Australia 0061 62623204)
State and federal tensions over hotel quarantine remain unresolved as West Australians emerge from a three-day lockdown.
WA Premier Mark McGowan says the three-day lockdown cost the local economy about $70 million.
The state recorded zero new community-transmitted COVID-19 cases, however four new infections were detected in hotel quarantine.
Mr McGowan has criticised the federal government for allowing people to go to India for non-urgent purposes.
The Indian Society of Western Australia says what's occurring in India is akin to a war and Indian-Australians stranded in the country need to be repatriated.
President Supriya Guha says there's been too much time wasted debating the merits of hotel quarantine and he supports calls for purpose-built quarantine facilities away from Australia's big cities.
Mr Guha says the Australian government must take urgent action.
"There are hundreds of Indian Australians who are struck now in India. We need to do something to urgently bring them here and then you close down the country, that's fine. If you don't want to let visitors come in, that's still okay. You can't really keep your residents and citizens out there dying and suffering."
Click the audio icon on the photo above to listen to the full bulletin in Punjabi.
News and information is available in 63 languages at sbs.com.au/coronavirus
Listen to SBS Punjabi Monday to Friday at 9 pm. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Also Read

India New Delhi
 
Australia’s Immigration Minister addresses concerns amidst India flight ban as COVID-19 cases explode
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke Source: AAP
In an interview with SBS Punjabi, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke addresses the plight of Australians and temporary visa holders, including international students, stuck in a ‘difficult, dangerous and upsetting’ situation in COVID-ravaged India.
Updated
Updated 18 hours ago
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Calling it a tough decision for the Australian government, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke says Canberra is “devastated” to take a call on completely blocking all flights from a close partner like India for the short term.
The Australian government today announced a snap ban on flights from India until May 15, in a bid to contain its coronavirus infection via returning travellers from the South Asian country, where a record surge in COVID-19 cases has been recorded over the past few days.
Highlights:
  • Tough decision for Australia to ban flights from India, says immigration minister
  • Government’s top priority is to protect Australians here and those stranded overseas: Alex Hawke
  • Temporary visa holders and international students need to wait much longer to return
The second-most populous nation of the world witnessed a slight dip in COVID-19 cases on 27 April for the first time in six days but recorded more than 323,000 new cases and close to 3,000 deaths, nevertheless.
“Our thoughts are directly with India today and there are so many people suffering in India right now and we are very conscious of that,” Minister Hawke told SBS Punjabi in a telephonic interview.
Australia has temporarily paused all direct passenger flights from India.

Australia has temporarily paused all direct passenger flights from India.
EPA
Australia comes first:
Addressing the concerns of stranded Australians, Minister Hawke says the government’s topmost priority is to protect Australia.
“Our first priority has to be to protect Australia and our second priority is, obviously, to help countries like India and help people who are dying and that is our second priority. Beyond that, then, we are trying to help people who are stranded and then people in our regions,” he elaborated.
Citizenship
Indian couple's Australian citizenship application gets approved in less than 90 days despite backlog
The decision means that nearly 9,000 Australians who are currently stranded in India – 650 of those considered vulnerable – now have no way of returning home until further announcement about flights.
The ban also applies to indirect flights from stopover cities such as Doha, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur besides the government-organised repatriation and other commercial flights.
“We are very sad to see that a great country like India, who did so well in the first wave, is now suffering so much in another wave and that’s why we have announced we are providing masks, ventilators, gowns, goggles, gloves, face shields,” the minister added.
travel exemption-australia border-temporary visa holders

A man wearing a face mask looks at his phone as he arrives at Sydney Airport.
James D. Morgan/Getty Images
Impact on temporary visa holders and international students:
Besides Australian citizens and permanent residents, thousands of temporary visa holders also remain locked out of the country, many of whom are crying foul, claiming the Australian government has abandoned them in a time of crisis.
Acknowledging their plight, Minister Hawke says the “difficult, dangerous and upsetting” situation in India has made it impossible for the country to consider the concerns of visa holders.
“We want to return people to Australia and we need our temporary visa holders back in Australia. We’d love that to happen. But it simply isn’t possible, we have got a severe outbreak, like we do in this wave in India,” he said.
Asked if an exception could be considered for Indian international students, Minister Hawke said Australia is keen to facilitate their return but wouldn’t be able to do so until the situation improves in India.
The latest updated of Australian Visa & Citizenship Processing time

The decision to suspend flights from India will not impact visa processing, says immigration minister.
SBS
Impact on visa processing:
Minister Hawke says visa processing has been impacted by the pandemic in many ways, but he does not see this decision having an effect on processing times for applicants from India.
“The pandemic has already impacted the processing times in several categories in many different ways, just for practical reasons. But, not specifically, I think we’ll continue to function normally in relation to visa processing,” he says.
A relative of a person who died of COVID-19 reacts at a crematorium in Jammu, India, Sunday, 25 April, 2021.

A relative of a person who died of COVID-19 reacts at a crematorium in Jammu on 25 April.
AAP
Is India being singled out?
The travel ban has raised concerns amidst the Indian-Australian community. Many members of the community believe the restrictions could expose them to racist attacks and social stigma.
Reaffirming that the decision to impose a travel ban has been taken to protect Australians, Minister Hawke assured that this is “Australia’s way to help India in a time of crisis”.
“I just say that Australia had always had an excellent relationship with India, and we are very close. It’s our highest source country for migrants. Now, we have a very successful migration. As minister for immigration and multicultural affairs, I am very close to many members of the Indian Australian community, all through my electorate in Western Sydney, and we are on their side and we are going to show we are on their side and we are going to make sure we get through this together,” he concluded.
Mr Hawke says that Australia has not yet “formally” identified any other high-risk countries besides India.
Click on the player above to listen to the interview.
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 meters away from others. Find out what restrictions are in place for your state or territory.
Testing for coronavirus is now widely available across Australia. If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.
The federal government's coronavirus tracing app COVIDSafe is available for download from your phone's app store.
SBS is committed to informing Australia’s diverse communities about the latest COVID-19 developments.
News and information is available in 63 languages at https://www.sbs.com.au/language/coronavirus
Listen to SBS Punjabi Monday to Friday at 9 pm. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

International students
 
Australia suspends all flights from India until May 15, to send medical supplies to combat COVID crisis
Manpreet Kaur (R) with her mother Parminder Kaur. Source: Supplied by Manpreet Kaur
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a pause on all flights to Australia from India until May 15. The move comes after a meeting of the National Security Committee of Cabinet on Tuesday.
Updated
Updated 4 hours ago
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“The worst has come true,” says Manpreet Kaur, an Indian-Australian in Melbourne as the Australian government announced a ban on flights from COVID-ravaged India till 15 May, leaving many families waiting for reuniting with their loved ones, disappointed.
Melbourne’s Manpreet Kaur has been aching to reunite with her 75-year-old mother, who is currently living alone in their family home in Patiala in India’s northern state of Punjab.
Highlights:
  • Australia pauses all flights from India as COVID storm cripples the country
  • Australia to send 500 ventilators, as well as 1 million surgical masks besides other medical supplies to assist India
  • India records 323,144 new cases and 2771 deaths
'Will I ever be able to see my mum?'
Ms Kaur’s mother, a permanent resident of Australia, was booked to fly in on a Qantas flight on May 5, which now stands cancelled. This has elevated her stress levels, as she is recovering from Cushing’s disease, a rare medical condition that occurs when the body makes too much cortisol, a hormone related to the body’s stress response.
Australians travelling home

Manpreet Kaur's 75-year-old mother currently lives alone in India.
Supplied by Ms Kaur
“When we finally managed to book my mum on a flight to India, she told me, ‘Manpreet, looks like we will reunite soon.’
But with Australia halting flights from India, it seems seeing her would remain an unfulfilled dream,” says the 54-year-old who is dealing with aggravated levels of stress as her mother remains alone in India, where a devastating second wave of COVID-19 is killing thousands each day.
Australia halts all flights from India:
Scott Morrison

Prime Minister Scott Morrison
AAP
In Australia, senior government ministers congregated on 27 April to discuss measures to support the 9,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents currently stranded in India.
India has been setting new global COVID case records for six consecutive days. The South Asian country has registered 323,144 new cases and 2771 deaths in the past 24 hours.
Announcing a suite of measures after a meeting of the National Security Committee of Cabinet in Canberra, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said all flights from India into Australia have now been suspended.
“We recognise that this has been a very significant outbreak in India,” the prime minister told reporters.
"Today we agreed, in addition to the measures that I announced after the last National Cabinet meeting, to pause direct passenger flights between India and Australia until the 15th of May," he said.
Australians travelling home

Volunteers from a gurdwara (Sikh place of worship), prepare oxygen cylinders for patients in New Delhi on 24 April.
AAP Image/AP Photo/Altaf Qadri
This comes days after National Cabinet agreed to temporarily reduce incoming flights from India by 30 per cent in response to the recent spike in the number of infections amongst returned travellers in hotel quarantine in Northern Territory and Western Australia.
The announcement will directly impact two direct repatriation flights and two passenger flights. Besides these four flights, the fate of eight repatriation flights planned for all of May is also now uncertain.
Mr Morrison said that indirect flights from India, through key transit hubs such as Doha, Dubai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, have already been halted.
Citizenship
Indian couple's Australian citizenship application gets approved in less than 90 days despite backlog
Outward exemptions revoked:
Ms Kaur’s family is amongst thousands torn apart by coronavirus-induced travel restrictions, limiting citizens and permanent residents currently in Australia from travelling to high-risk countries like India, except in ‘very urgent’ circumstances.
Sydney-based bus operator Raj Sing was scheduled to travel to India on May 1 to tend to his ailing mother. For this purpose, he was granted an outward travel exemption to fly out from the Australian Border Force.
But Mr Singh told SBS Punjabi that his exemption was revoked a day after the government restricted flights to and from India on April 22.
“My mum left for India in March 2020 and has since been hopping from one relative’s house to another as she is sick and cannot live alone. My brother lives in Canada while I’m stuck here,” he said.
Exemption revoked

Snapshot of email received by Raj Singh from ABF.
Supplied by Mr Singh
On April 23, the 33-year-old Mr Singh received an email from the ABF notifying him that outward travel exemptions for India-bound passengers will no longer be approved except in ‘extremely limited circumstances’.
“After I received the email, I applied for a second outward exemption. This time I applied for an exemption to travel to my brother in Canada, but that was outrightly refused. They told me that they doubted my intention to travel to a country other than India,” Mr Singh said.
Humanitarian aid to assist India: 'We will stand by India'
Prime Minister has also announced that the Australian government will be sending critical medical supplies to assist India’s healthcare system buckling under the surge in new infections, which has put pressure on hospital capacity and oxygen supplies across the country.
"[The government will send] 500 non-invasive ventilators, 1 million surgical masks, 500,000 PPE N95 masks, 100,000 surgical gowns, 100,000 goggles, 100,000 pairs of gloves, 20,000 face shields," he said.
"We will commence procurement of 100 oxygen concentrators with tanks and consumables. DFAT will manage the movement of this equipment, over the course of the next week," Mr Morrison added.
Australians stranded in India seek help to return home:
On 26 April, Australia’s High Commissioner to India Barry O’Farrell said there has been an uptick in Australians striving to return home amidst a dramatic rise in new cases and fatalities in India.
“I think the list is still about 8,000, and that's after we've returned a total of 17,000 people since March of last year,” he said.
“So there's a bit of a magic pudding about it, but that's not surprising given that this second wave is not only shocking people around the world, but it's certainly unsettled people in India,” Mr O’Farrell added.
Click on the player above to listen to Manpreet Kaur's interview in Punjabi.
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 meters away from others. Find out what restrictions are in place for your state or territory.
Testing for coronavirus is now widely available across Australia. If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.
The federal government's coronavirus tracing app COVIDSafe is available for download from your phone's app store.
SBS is committed to informing Australia’s diverse communities about the latest COVID-19 developments.
News and information is available in 63 languages at https://www.sbs.com.au/language/coronavirus
Listen to SBS Punjabi Monday to Friday at 9 pm. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

International students
 
'I see dead bodies every day': Australians stuck in India fear their families won't survive another month
Shivang and his wife Krimja Desai
Shivang and his wife Krimja Desai are worried about how they will make it through to May.( Supplied: Shivang Desai )
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Australian citizens stranded in India say they are "heartbroken" by the federal government's decision to suspend flights between the countries, but understand it's for "the greater good of the community".
Key points:
  • There are currently 9,000 Australians in India who want to come home
  • Flights from India have been suspended until at least mid-May
  • Hospitals are buckling under the record surge of cases and most businesses are shut
Shivang Desai, 28, travelled to Ahmedabad in western India in 2019 to help set up an international education business but has been unable to return home since.
With coronavirus cases breaking records in India, Mr Desai, his wife Krimija and his parents don't feel safe in the country and desperately want to return to their home in Sydney.
Yesterday the country recorded more than 323,000 new infections and 2,771 deaths.
"Everybody here wants to go back home because it's very bad up here in India," he said.
Mr Desai is one of around 9,000 Australians in India who want to come home, with 650 of those considered vulnerable.
But the government's decision to pause flights from India to Australia means they won't be able to leave any time soon.
"Because I am really very desperate to come to Australia, I feel heartbroken," Mr Desai said.
"But I totally trust that what [the government] is doing is for the greater good of the community.
"They are looking out for all Australians, which is considered a COVID-free country and of course [the government] doesn't want to start the spread of COVID."
3a36282ff18a69478680b8759d23c543
Shivang and Krimja Desai (on the right) with his parents.( Supplied: Shivang Desai )
With no income, Mr Desai said he has exhausted his savings and can no longer support himself or his family.
"The whole of India right now there are no businesses, no jobs."
He has already had two flights to Australia cancelled and is now booked on a repatriation flight for June which he is pinning his hopes on.
Others are still trying to secure repatriation flights.
Khan* desperately wants to fly his vulnerable parents out of Lucknow in northern India back to their home in Canberra.
Over the last six days of record-breaking case numbers, he's seen an incredible loss of life at the overrun medical college nearby.
"I see dead bodies every day, you have no idea how many dead bodies I've seen," he said.
"I don't know if all these people were dying from COVID, but there's so many people the system has almost collapsed."
He believes his elderly parents, 71-year-old dad and 69-year-old mum, who are both permanent residents of Australia will be safer down under.
He understands why they can't fly back home to Canberra, but suggests the government instead quarantine them in remote facilities.
"We are happy to stay there as long as we get essential medical supplies," he said.
But he'll have to wait until May 15 when the pause on flights from India is planned to end.
A COVID-19 patient receives oxygen in the back of a car
India's medical system has been overwhelmed by the latest outbreak.( AP: Altaf Qadri )
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has rejected criticism he is abandoning Australians currently stranded in India and says he is committed to bringing people back as soon as it is safe.
"We don't think the answer is to just forsake those in India and just shut them off," he said, at yesterday's press conference.
"I don't see this as a problem we have to solve, I see this as a group of people we need to help."
About 17.6 million people have contracted the virus in India, the second most populous country in the world, and about 197,894 have died.
Australia is sending critical medical supplies to India to help with the outbreak which includes 500 ventilators, 1 million surgical masks, 500,000 P2 and N95 masks, 100,000 goggles, 100,000 pairs of gloves and 20,000 face shields.
*Khan declined to share his full name.
Posted 9h
 
Up for ignorant @Leongsam :FU:
'I see dead bodies every day': Australians stuck in India fear their families won't survive another month

"I see dead bodies every day, you have no idea how many dead bodies I've seen," he said.
"I don't know if all these people were dying from COVID, but there's so many people the system has almost collapsed."
 
Up for ignorant @Leongsam :FU:

Don't be taken in by the media hype. India's death toll is way lower than Europe's and South America's

As for dead bodies I've seen them too and it had nothing to do with Covid.
 
EXPERTS: India could have more than half a BILLION cases UNREPORTED!
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/27/india/india-covid-underreporting-intl-hnk-dst/index.html


"Last year we estimated that only one in about 30 infections were being caught by testing, so the reported cases are a serious underestimate of true infections," he said. "This time, the mortality figures are probably serious underestimates, and what we're seeing on the ground is many more deaths, than what has been officially reported."

Don't be taken in by the media hype. India's death toll is way lower than Europe's and South America's

As for dead bodies I've seen them too and it had nothing to do with Covid.
 

There are definitely loads of cases. In fact half a billion is a conservative estimate.

However the fact that such as small percentage are actually sick shows that Covid is not nearly as serious as it is made out to be.

So let's assume the the actual death toll is double the official number ie 400,000 deaths.

Number infected is 500,000,000 (what the headline says) + 18,000,000 (official number) = 501,800,000.

So the IFR works out to 400,000/501,800,000 = 0.079%

A bad flu year has an IFR of 0.1% which proves that Covid is less serious than influenza.
 
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