9000 Aussies registered to return home from India

Nine-thousand Australians are still waiting to be repatriated from India, accounting for a quarter of all Aussies stranded overseas.

NINE thousand Australians are still waiting to be repatriated home from India, accounting for a quarter of all Aussies stranded overseas.

Figures obtained by the NT News shows about 9000 Australians are registered in India as wanting to return home as the country faces a coronavirus ‘tsunami’.

The number of COVID cases across India rose by 346,786 on Saturday for a total of 16.6 million cases.

Australia responded to the spike by reducing the number of flights from India by 30 per cent.

Travellers on repatriation flights from India have been largely responsible for a recent spike in COVID cases in the NT’s Howard Springs quarantine facility.

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The latest case, a two-year-old boy, tested positive on Sunday after recently arriving from New Delhi.

It brings the NT’s total active case tally up to 49.

The top five countries where Australians are seeking to return from are India, the UK, the USA, Thailand and the Philippines, with around 18,000 Australians registered in these countries.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said their “highest priority” at this time was helping vulnerable Australians overseas.

“Over 500,000 Australians have arrived in Australia since the Government recommended that people reconsider the need to travel abroad,” he said.

“Since the start of the pandemic, DFAT has helped over 44,900 Australians return on over 500 flights, including around 18,000 people on 124 government facilitated flights.

About 6700 international arrivals have undertaken quarantine at the Howard Springs Centre for National Resilience to date.

“Around 34,000 people are currently registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as being overseas and wanting to return.”

“Further facilitated flights to support the return of vulnerable Australians overseas will depart over the coming weeks from India, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.”

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said he was concerned about the evolving situation in India.

“This, in many respects, increases the humanitarian need to help Australians return from India, which is the purpose of the flights that come through Darwin,” he said.