Sudan Bans Travelers from India, Imposes COVID Curbs

Cargo containing a batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is seen at an airport in Sudan. Reuters file photo
Cargo containing a batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is seen at an airport in Sudan. Reuters file photo
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Sudan Bans Travelers from India, Imposes COVID Curbs

Cargo containing a batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is seen at an airport in Sudan. Reuters file photo
Cargo containing a batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is seen at an airport in Sudan. Reuters file photo

Sudan on Tuesday banned travelers arriving from India and imposed new coronavirus restrictions including closing schools, as coronavirus cases rise.

"Entry will be prevented for all travelers arriving directly from India or through any other country after having visited India in the past 14 days," said the country's ruling council in a statement.

Travelers from Egypt and Ethiopia will be re-tested upon arrival, it said.

India is experiencing elevated numbers of Covid-19 cases following the spread of a variant which has been classified by the World Health Organization as a "variant of concern."

Sudan has registered 34,707 Covid-19 cases including 1,116 fatalities as of May 16.

Authorities fear the virus caseload would exceed 100,000 during the first and second weeks of June if people fail to take the necessary measures, according to the statement.

"The Supreme Health Emergencies Committee ... ordered the suspension of all universities and schools for a month," it said.

Mass prayers and rituals will also be put on hold.

In March, the country began inoculating healthcare workers after receiving AstraZeneca vaccinations through the Covax initiative which provides jabs to poor countries.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.