With several countries reimposing strict quarantine rules, global travel is lurching towards another crisis

Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) are among the countries that are bringing in compulsory quarantine rules from the middle of the month. This means that visitors from most countries will have to quarantine themselves at their own cost. And those found breaking the rules will have to pay massive fines, which should act as a deterrent. The United States has also imposed a condition that all incoming visitors will be required to have a negative RT-PCR test result before they arrive, but individual States have wildly different rules. All this is despite nations like the UK rolling out one of the most comprehensive vaccination systems, and are on track to have their entire populations vaccinated by summer. On the face of it, the new quarantine and testing rules might seem like overkill and only meant for the Governments and the pharmaceutical industry to get a feel of the virus.

However, some particularly virulent new strains emerging from Brazil and South Africa, where existing vaccines appear to be less effective, are worrying administrators, doctors and scientists across the world. Travel to and from these countries has been severely curtailed by many nations and pharmaceutical majors have been working to adapt their vaccines to these new strains. In many parts of the West, the virus is wreaking havoc with both the number of infected and the number of deaths still climbing, although in countries like India it appears that the Government has got the hang of the virus, much to the consternation of many western journalists. In many non-metropolitan parts of India, life as usual seems to have resumed with mask compliance levels dropping and social distancing becoming a thing of the past. Even the Government has now allowed movie halls to be opened at full capacity, which is nothing short of an acceptance that things are back to somewhat normal. However, nations, including India, would do well to remain cautious. The tale of the virus in the Amazonian city of Manaus is a cautionary one. In that northern Brazilian city, too, authorities were convinced that they had the virus in check and that, thanks to a high microbial load, the city had achieved herd immunity. Today, Manaus does not have enough hospital beds or even oxygen to cope. The worst is still not past us, although we are in a much better state than we were a few months ago. India, like other nations, should continue to quarantine foreign arrivals and should not speed up opening the economy too fast, lest we regret it in the future.