Canada has banned all passenger flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days due to the growing wave of COVID-19 cases.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra stated that, ‘Given the higher number of cases of COVID-19 detected in air passengers arriving in Canada from India and Pakistan. I am suspending all commercial and private passenger flights arriving in Canada from Indian and Pakistan for 30 days’.

It will not apply to cargo flights particularly to ensure the continued shipment of vaccines, personal protective equipment and other essential goods, later he added.

More than a million people living in Canada are of Indian descent while there are 100,000 Canadians who have Pakistani ancestry.

India, which is undergoing an alarming surge being blamed on a “double mutant” variant and super-spreader events, recorded the world’s highest daily tally of coronavirus cases for a second day in a row on Friday, while daily deaths from COVID-19 also jumped by a record.