India travel ban unlikely to be lifted as Covid there surges

Let's begin this morning in India, where it's looking increasingly unlikely the travel ban will be lifted next week after the country recorded its highest daily death toll this week as a triple mutant variant of Covid-19 takes hold there. Almost 2000 people died on Wednesday alone with 315-thousand new infections and the death toll now sitting at more than 180-thousand. New Zealand has banned travellers from India until April 28 with Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins set to announce at midday whether that ban will be extended. It comes as the number of Covid infections in India has tripled in the two weeks since the ban was imposed. And as correspondent Ishan Garg told our reporter Ella Stewart, hospitals across the country are at crisis point and other countries are now banning travel to and from India.