Sharma Kumar, more than five months pregnant, was due to return to Canada from India on Sunday, says her husband Pankaj. Party at the bedside of her father suffering from cancer, she is now stuck there.
His father was diagnosed with cancer and he is undergoing chemotherapy. She just wanted to hang out with him.
The couple fear that if the measure is extended beyond the 30 days scheduled, she will not be able to return to give birth in the country.
Mr. Kumar says he is powerless in the face of the situation.
At the moment, I have no plan. It’s a mess, he says. If she wasn’t pregnant, I would have told her just to stay there.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday announced the suspension of all commercial and private passenger flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days.
As for travelers returning from India and Pakistan by indirect flights, they will have to take a negative drug test at the last place they will have landed before arriving in Canada.
Disproportionate increase in cases
The Public Health Agency of Canada says it has detected a disproportionate rise in COVID-19 cases among people who have taken a trip whose flight departed from these two countries.
The measures were taken following pressure from provincial leaders, who felt that enough was not being done to prevent the arrival in the country of the variants of the coronavirus.
The B.1.617 variant, which appears to fuel widespread infections in India, has been detected in several provinces.
Mr Kumar understands the need to suspend travel, but believes the government should have given people more notice.
We have to inform people at least a week earlier. We cannot announce at 5 pm that the flights are suspended.
Arati Sood’s husband wanted to visit his father who had been diagnosed with cancer.
According to Arati Sood, whose spouse has been in India since March 30, the government could have extended the mandatory quarantine period in hotels or given longer notice before suspending flights.
Last week we got into trouble with this or that situation. And there, here is this suspension which is added. I just want him to come home.
Return to Asia
Bibi Bashiran, a 77-year-old grandmother, was eager to return to Pakistan after visiting family in Edmonton. She was due to leave for Pakistan on May 14, but the airline canceled the flight because there are no more planes heading to Canada.
She was a bit sad
to hear the news, says her granddaughter Haiqa Cheema.
The family had to scramble to get a visa extension.
May, says Ms.Cheema. We don’t want to extend her visa stay too long because it creates complications in the future. “,” Text “:” Her visa expires on May 15 or 16, “said Ms. Cheema. We don’t want to extend his visa stay too long because that creates complications in the future. “}}” Lang = “en”>Her visa expires on May 15 or 16, Ms. Cheema said. We don’t want to extend his visa stay too long because it creates complications in the future.
It is not easy for the grandmother to adapt. She still lives with the doors open in Pakistan. But here, because it’s so cold, she’s still inside. She couldn’t wait to go back. Technically, she’s safer here, but it takes a huge toll on her sanity.
A lack of understanding about South Asia
Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Canada, Raza Bashir Tarar, has called on the federal government to reconsider its decision.
In a letter sent to Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, he maintains that the decision to suspend flights from his country betrays a lack of understanding about South Asia.
It is not known that trains and flights are not operational between the two countries, India and Pakistan, he writes. The ban on flights from Pakistan because of a variant that has developed in another country whose population has no possibility of contact with Pakistan, defies all logic.
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