27/04/2022
Covid-19 updates for India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
India
At present, there are 16279 active cases in India. Over 1.87 billion vaccine doses have been administered so far. States like Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh shows rise in cases and mostly from the NCR cities. Other states Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Rajasthan and Punjab reports increase in cases.
Recovery rate is 98.75% and weekly positive rate is presently 0.58%.
India has started vaccination drive for 15- to 18-year-old from January this year and for 12-14 years old from March. The Drugs Controller General of India (DGGI) has now approved used of Corbevax vaccine for 5 to 12 years old and use of covaxin in restriction only in emergency situation only for children between 6 to 12 years old.
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1820033
Education
Schools and colleges are open now and children of all grades are physically attending classes. The CBSE, CISCE and a few state board exams will begin final term examinations for grade 10th and 12th from end of April and these will be held in physical format . However, it will be subject to prevailing covid condition.
Travel
India has resumed all international flights which were suspended two years back due to surge in covid cases worldwide. Foreign airlines from 40 countries can now fly to India effective from 27 March 2022.
Covid safety rules also have been eased at airports and in flights like it is no longer mandatory for cabin crew to wear mask and personal protective equipment (PPE), security personnel at airports can resume pat-down search of passengers, wherever needed. Airlines no longer are required to keep vacant seats available for international flights for medical emergencies.
Domestic airlines are now operating at 100 percent capacity. RTPCR test is not mandatory for domestic travel, but states can continue its imposition as per requirement.
This travel relaxation has been allowed since 27 March 2022. The Covid scenario in the country is however changing with a sight uptick in numbers in some parts.The government might soon decide to curb this relaxation if cases continue to increase. Hong Kong has already banned Air India till 24 April as three passengers were found covid positive on arrival at Hong Kong airport. Indian passengers can arrive at Hong Kong only with a negative covid certificate from a test done 48 hours prior to travel.
Pakistan
Covid - 19 is decreasing in Pakistan with 157 new infections reported on average each day. There have been 1,527,326 infections and 30,364 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
60.6% of the population has been given at least 1st dose of vaccination and 54.6 % has been administered both doses.
https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/pakistan/
Education:
Educational Institutions across the country are open.
Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) has announced the date sheet for its May/June 2022 examinations around the world, including Pakistan.
https://propakistani.pk/2022/03/29/cambridge-announces-date-sheet-for-o-a-level-exams-in-pakistan/
Travel
Only fully vaccinated passengers of 12 years old or above can undertake international inbound air travel to Pakistan with exception to Pakistani deportees, passengers with valid medical reason for exemption of vaccination, Pakistani passenger under 12 years old, foreign passport holder under 18 years old, travellers (Pakistan/Foreigners) who travelled outbound from Pakistan before October 01,2021. Non- vaccinated passengers between 12 to 18 years old can travel to Pakistan without proof of Covid-19 vaccination upto April 30, 2022.
Any non-vaccinated passengers of age 12 years and above travelling to Pakistan and fulfilling any criteria mentioned above (except for deportees) will be required to possess a negative PCR Test Result conducted within 72 hours prior to commencement of travel to Pakistan.
https://pakistanembassy.se/covid-19/covid-19-government-current-travel-advisory/
Revised Guidelines as of 01-04-2022
Nepal
Nepal Covid cases has reached 978,500 with a good recovery rate of almost 98.8% and at present there are only 265 active case. Daily cases are on decreasing trend. Nearly 66 % of the total population are fully vaccinated. 64% of the total population have received at least single dose of vaccination. Vaccination drive also covered students aged between 12 to 18 years.
Education:
Latest government directives allowed all education sectors - schools, colleges, universities including training centres and preparation classes for language proficiency test to run classes in person. All examinations at all levels are being conducted including Cambridge A level exams for May-June 2022. Secondary Education Examination (SEE) – which is grade 10 exams conducted by national education board for this year is scheduled from 21 April until 02 May 2022. Grade 12 examinations will be held from 29 April to 8 May 2022.
Travel
Nepal eases quarantine and pre-departure COVID-19 testing rules as of 11 March 2022. Fully vaccinated international arrivals entering via air or land routes may submit their vaccination certificate instead of a pre-departure COVID-19 test. Others must continue submitting negative results of a COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours before departure. International passengers no longer need to quarantine; officials may require symptomatic entrants to undergo on-arrival rapid antigen testing and quarantine if positive results are returned.
Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, from 3 January 2020 to 25 April 2022, there have been 1.9 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 29,127 deaths, reported to WHO. As of 11 April 2022, over 250 million vaccine doses have been administered.
Bangladesh reported just 22 new coronavirus infections on 12 April, the lowest in two years, with no deaths logged. The last time the daily new cases were this low, was on April 5, 2020, when 23 cases were reported.
The latest figures put the recovery rate at 96.99% and the mortality rate at 1.49%.
As of April 6, Bangladesh has administered one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to 75 % of the population, two doses to 67% and three doses to 9%.
https://covid19.who.int/region/searo/country/bd
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2022/04/12/zero-covid-deaths-22-new-cases-reported-in-a-day
Education
Schools and colleges are open now and children of all grades are physically attending classes. The government is planning to start this year’s Secondary School Certificate, or SSC, exams on Jun 19 and the Higher Secondary Certificate, or HSC, tests on Aug 22 after a four-month delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.
https://bdnews24.com/education/2022/03/01/bangladesh-ssc-exams-to-begin-on-jun-19-hsc-on-aug-22
Travel
International commercial passenger flights are operating. Fully vaccinated travellers are not required to present a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test result to travel to Bangladesh. Arrivals who are unable to provide proof of vaccination, or proof that their vaccination course was completed at least 14 days prior to arrival, are required to present evidence of a negative RT PCR based COVID-19 test taken no more than 72 hours prior to departure for Bangladesh.
All travellers regardless of vaccination status may be subject to health screening measures on arrival. Travellers are strongly encouraged to confirm the latest requirements with their airline and Bangladeshi authorities before departure.
http://caab.gov.bd/covid19f.html
Sri Lanka
Currently, Sri Lanka has minimised the risk of spreading Covid-19 with only 44 new cases reporting daily. The current number of active cases is 626 and the death toll so far is 16,503 out of the 663,239 total reported covid cases. At present, the country is back to normalcy and all the Covid 19 related restrictions are lifted. 65.9% of the population is fully vaccinated including children who are above 12 years old.
Travel
Fully vaccinated travellers are not required to take any COVID‑19 tests before travelling to Sri Lanka. International travellers, who have recovered from COVID‑19 between 7 days and 6 months before the date of departure and who have been vaccinated at least with a single dose of a 2‑dose vaccine 14 days before travel, are exempt from the pre‑departure COVID‑19 testing requirement. They must present a positive COVID‑19 PCR or rapid antigen test result in English as proof that they were previously infected. Children below 12 years old are exempt from the pre‑departure COVID‑19 testing requirement. Passengers who have received the recommended doses of any COVID‑19 vaccine 14 days before travel are exempt from the on‑arrival PCR testing requirement. Passengers over 12 years old who are not vaccinated or who have not completed the recommended doses of an approved vaccine must undergo a day 1 COVID‑19 PCR test at the airport at their own expense of USD 40.
Education
All the schools and universities are open now for face-to-face education for all sectors and delayed exams and academic activities are taking place. GCESE A/L examination is held in Feb -March 2022 and students are currently expecting their results. We expect results will be released in next couple of months.
Market update
There is a sharp increase in outward mobility in Sri Lankan market. It shows staggering 300% growth for UK market compared to previous year at the end of 2021. One main reason is for this is internal crisis. Other factor is the new offer for students offered by UK government through reestablishment of post study work visa option. However, Australia and New Zealand and US tops the lists while Canada also a key competitor. Coming months will be useful for universities since A/L results are due in coming months where students will start to explore their HE options. The most demanded subject areas for Sri Lankan students are business management, Engineering technology and natural sciences.
https://www.hpb.health.gov.lk/en
https://www.srilankan.com/en_uk/coporate/emergency-news-detail/525
https://www.epid.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=230&lang=en
For any query please write to Sandeepa.Sahay@britishcouncil.org
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