India travel pause to end

The travel suspension for Australians coming home from India will end as planned on May 15, the Prime Minister has announced.

"That biosecurity order is working as exactly as it was intended to, and that will remain in place with no change until the 15th of May," Scott Morrison told reporters in Newcastle.

"The National Security Committee of Cabinet has confirmed that it will have done its job by then, and as a result we see no need to extend it beyond that date."

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Medical staff attend to Covid-19 positive patients in the emergency ward at the Holy Family hospital in New Delhi, India.

The first repatriation flight will arrive to the Northern Territory, where the "most urgent of cases" will be quarantined at the Howard Springs facility.

There will be three flights of Australians being brought back home from India in May, to be quarantined at Howard Springs outside of Darwin.

Mr Morrison said the charter flights will be "bringing back the most urgent of cases".

"There will be rapid antigen testing put in place for everyone getting on the flights," he said.

"The challenge we have had with brief arrivals from India is the higher incident of infections and the stress that was placing on the quarantine system."

Australian citizens and residents will still need to return a negative coronavirus test before boarding a flight home from India.

"Rapid antigen testing is a requirement and a negative test to get on a border flight to Australia," Mr Morrison said.

"I'm sure that's what all Australians would expect."



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