The Biden Administration will ban most travel from India starting next week as the country deals with a devastating surge of COVID-19 infections, a White House official confirmed Friday.

What You Need To Know

  • The U.S. will ban most travel from India as the country deals with a devastating surge of COVID-19 infections

  • The policy will take effect on Tuesday, May 4

  • India reported nearly 400,000 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, with more than 18.7 million cases in the country

  • The U.S. has already moved to send therapeutics, rapid virus test and oxygen to India, along with some materials needed for that country to boost its domestic production of COVID-19 vaccines

“On the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration will restrict travel from India starting immediately,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. "The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high COVID-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in the India."

India is experiencing a record surge in COVID-19 variants and cases. The country reported nearly 400,000 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, with more than 18.7 million cases in the country, a total second only to the United States which leads the world with more than 32 million reported cases.

India set a daily global record in 7 of the last 8 days, with a 7-day average of nearly 350,000 infections. Daily deaths have nearly tripled in the past three weeks, reflecting the intensity of the latest surge.

The news was first reported by Reuters. The policy will take effect on Tuesday, May 4.

The U.S. action comes days after Biden spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the growing health crisis in his country and pledged to immediately send assistance. The U.S. has already moved to send therapeutics, rapid virus test and oxygen to India, along with some materials needed for that country to boost its domestic production of COVID-19 vaccines. Additionally, a CDC team of public health experts was expected to soon be on the ground in India to help health officials there move to slow the spread of the virus.

The U.S.' move was celebrated by lawmakers, including Rep. Ro Khanna, himself the son of immigrants from India.

"I support the Biden Administration’s travel restrictions from India, which many in the Indian American community have called for," Khanna wrote on Twitter, urging vaccine manufacturers to do more to help India: "But what we really need to do is prioritize lives over excess profits. Pfizer & Moderna need to license their vaccine formulas."

Earlier, the U.S. State Department issued a Level 4: Do Not Travel warning in regards to traveling to India: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 4 Travel Health Notice for India due to COVID-19, indicating a very high level of COVID-19 in the country."

Spectrum News' Austin Landis contributed to this report.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.