Australia has suspended all passenger flights from India until May 15. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on April 27 said that all flights from India to Australia will be temporarily halted. Morrison said the suspension would remain in place until at least May 15 due to “clearly present” risks of travel from India, leaving thousands of Australians including high-profile cricketers stranded. Morrison said that the decision will be reviewed before May 15. Morrison also said Australia would send medical aid, including oxygen tanks, ventilators, and personal protective equipment, to India as its health system strains under the growing caseload.

Morrison said India was enduring a “terrible humanitarian crisis” that was also hitting Australian families with ties to the country. “The scenes that we’re seeing from India are truly heartbreaking,” he said. Morrison stressed that the suspension was not a permanent measure, saying repatriation flights would resume with the “most vulnerable” given priority. “We don’t think the answer is to forsake those Australians in India and just shut them off, as some seem to suggest,” he said, adding there would be no special treatment for cricketers currently playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Australia had already limited the number of flights from India in an effort to control the spread of coronavirus, which has largely been contained Down Under. The decision comes amid a massive rise in COVID-19 infections in India. The second COVID-19 wave has also triggered a shortage of hospital beds, medical oxygen, and medicines.