The white house announced travel from India will be restricted beginning May 4 due to COVID concerns.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden’s administration made the determination on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With 386,452 new cases, India now has reported more than 18.7 million since the pandemic began, second only to the United States. The Health Ministry on Friday also reported 3,498 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 208,330. Experts believe both figures are an undercount, but it’s unclear by how much.
Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the growing health crisis in his country and pledged to immediately send assistance.
The U.S. has already moved to send therapeutics, rapid virus test and oxygen to India, along with some materials needed to boost its domestic production of COVID-19 vaccines.
