US to restrict travel from India as first American aid begins to arrive

State Department spokesperson Ned Price discussed the supplies, totaling $10 million, which are beginning to arrive in India during a press briefing Thursday.

The Biden administration on Friday announced travel restrictions from India as the first U.S. relief arrived to help the country deal with a fast-growing COVID-19 crisis. "On the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration will restrict travel from India starting immediately," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. "The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high COVID-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in the India." Friday's statement said that the restrictions will take effect on Tuesday May 4. The restrictions were announced on the same day some initial American aid was flown into New Delhi aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane, including 1,100 cylinders of oxygen that can be refilled, 1,700 oxygen concentrators and multiple large-scale oxygen generation units arrived to India to meet the country's dire need for oxygen-related supplies.