All British citizensarriving in India from Monday will face a mandatory 10-day quarantineirrespective of vaccination status. The measures come in response to theUK government's latest travel rules where Covishield is an approvedvaccine against Covid-19 but India's vaccine certificate is notrecognised. India's stern measure comes after the Indian government warned of‘reciprocal measures’ to the UK government's differential treatment of India'svaccination.
Despite theirvaccination status, all passengers from the United Kingdom will have to undergoa mandatory quarantine upon arrival in India. In addition, they will need toproduce the result of the RT-PCR test done within 72 hours before travel. Aftertheir arrival and on day 8, they will have to take the RT-PCR tests again. Themandatory quarantine can be done at home or at the destination address. Thesenew rules are exactly in line with UK's travel rules.
India's ForeignSecretary Harsh Shringla called the rules "discriminatory" and warnedthat "reciprocal action" may be warranted.
The UK adjusted itspolicy to include the Covishield shot widely used in India as an approvedvaccine, but India still isn't on the list of acceptable places to receive adose. As a result, people who received Covishield in the UK count asvaccinated, while those who got it in India do not.
Several rounds ofmeetings took place between Indian and UK representatives and one was attendedby National Health Authority chairman RS Sharma and UK high commissioner AlexEllis. After the meeting, both expressed satisfaction and said there seems tobe no problem regarding Covishield or the certificate. Reports said India ismulling to add the full date of birth on the certificate for people travellingabroad.
However, the 'reciprocal'move indicates that the issue over Covishield has not been resolved.