SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA --
An Australian judge on Monday rejected a challenge to a temporary COVID-19 ban on citizens returning from India.
The government imposed the Indian travel ban on April 30 to relieve pressure on quarantine facilities for returned international travellers. The ban will be lifted on Friday when a government-chartered plane is expected to repatriate 150 of the 9,000 Australians in India who want to come home.
Federal Court Justice Tom Thawley dismissed the first two parts of a four-pronged challenge to the ban initiated by 73-year-old Australian Gary Newman who has been stranded since March last year in the Indian city of Bangalore.