Australia announced up to five years in prison for nationals returning from India

Australians who have been in India for 14 days and have returned to their country since Monday, when the ban on return goes into effect, could be sentenced to up to 5 years in prison. and a fine, the government of the ocean country warned.

The Minister of the Treasury, Josh Frydenberg, this Saturday defended to local media the “drastic” decision adopted last night by the executive in order to “keep Australians safe” in the country.

Those who skip the interim order will be charged with violating the Biosafety Act, punishable by 5 years in prison and fines of up to A $ 66,000 (nearly US $ 51,000 or more than US $ 42,350 ).

According to the public channel ABCThis is the first time that Australian authorities have banned their citizens from entering the country.

Frydenberg assured that they were acting on the advice of their medical experts and faced with the “serious” situation in India, the current epicenter of the covid-19 pandemic and where 380,000 new daily cases were exceeded yesterday.

“Our hearts are with the Indian people and the Indo-Australian community. Friends and family of Australians are at extreme risk. Unfortunately, many of them contract covid-19 and, unfortunately, many die every day ”, Health Minister Greg Hunt said in a statement.

The Australian government, a country which has about 9,000 nationals in India, has already suspended air links with the Asian country and will review the measure on May 15, in addition to pledging to send emergency health aid.

Australia closed its international borders – with the exception of humanitarian flights and other exceptions – at the start of the pandemic and only allows its citizens to travel to New Zealand, with which it has set up a bubble of ‘air.

All Australians wishing to return to the country have been forced to keep a long waiting list due to the lack of rooms to maintain the mandatory two weeks of isolation.

The country, which has almost returned to normal, has added 29,801 cases since the start of the pandemic, including 910 deaths, most from the mid-2020 epidemic in Melbourne linked to a series of failures in health centers. quarantine.

(With information from EFE)

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