No more quarantine for Covishield-vaccinated Indians travelling to the UK
Indian passengers who are fully vaccinated with Covishield or any other UK-approved vaccine will not be quarantined when they arrive in Britain from October 11.
- Oct 8, 2021,
- Updated Oct 8, 2021 3:39 PM IST
The UK on Thursday announced that it will scrap COVID-19 quarantine travel rules for 47 countries, including India, from Monday and said it would recognise the vaccine status of arrivals from more countries in the latest easing of restrictions.
Indian passengers who are fully vaccinated with Covishield or any other UK-approved vaccine will not be quarantined when they arrive in Britain from October 11, the High Commissioner to India said on Thursday, ending a row over what was perceived as unfair imposition of COVID-19 quarantine rules.
The British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis tweeted on Thursday "No quarantine for Indian travellers to the United Kingdom fully vaccinated with Covishield or another UK-approved vaccine from 11 October. Thanks to Indian government for close cooperation over last month,"
Previously, even though the new British rules stated that AstraZeneca Covishield was among the vaccines that qualify as approved, India still wasn't on the list. As a result, people who received Covishield in the UK were counted as vaccinated, while those who got it in India were not.
In response to the UK quarantine rules for Indians and citizens of several nations, including those vaccinated with UK-approved Covishield, India had imposed mandatory 10-day quarantine for British citizens irrespective of vaccination status on October 1.
The UK government had faced intense backlash over its refusal to recognise visitors as vaccinated unless they received their shots in a handful of select countries. The government was criticised for its discriminatory and even "colonialist" policies.
British officials had reportedly said that the issue was not the vaccine itself but the issues with India's "vaccination certification" process.
Dr RS Sharma, CEO of India's National Health Authority, said certification after coronavirus vaccinations in India is a centralised national system managed through the CoWIN app and portal and there are "no issues" with the platform which is entirely compliant with WHO standards.
Now if a person isn't fully vaccinated with one of the four UK-recognised vaccines - Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen - or any formulation of these vaccines, including Covishield, the person must take a test before departure, and must take a test on Day 2 and on Day 8, and then self-isolate for 10 days.
Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine: Over 93.94 crore doses provided to states, UTs so far, says govt
Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine: 70% of India's adult population administered first dose, says Health Minister
The UK on Thursday announced that it will scrap COVID-19 quarantine travel rules for 47 countries, including India, from Monday and said it would recognise the vaccine status of arrivals from more countries in the latest easing of restrictions.
Indian passengers who are fully vaccinated with Covishield or any other UK-approved vaccine will not be quarantined when they arrive in Britain from October 11, the High Commissioner to India said on Thursday, ending a row over what was perceived as unfair imposition of COVID-19 quarantine rules.
The British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis tweeted on Thursday "No quarantine for Indian travellers to the United Kingdom fully vaccinated with Covishield or another UK-approved vaccine from 11 October. Thanks to Indian government for close cooperation over last month,"
Previously, even though the new British rules stated that AstraZeneca Covishield was among the vaccines that qualify as approved, India still wasn't on the list. As a result, people who received Covishield in the UK were counted as vaccinated, while those who got it in India were not.
In response to the UK quarantine rules for Indians and citizens of several nations, including those vaccinated with UK-approved Covishield, India had imposed mandatory 10-day quarantine for British citizens irrespective of vaccination status on October 1.
The UK government had faced intense backlash over its refusal to recognise visitors as vaccinated unless they received their shots in a handful of select countries. The government was criticised for its discriminatory and even "colonialist" policies.
British officials had reportedly said that the issue was not the vaccine itself but the issues with India's "vaccination certification" process.
Dr RS Sharma, CEO of India's National Health Authority, said certification after coronavirus vaccinations in India is a centralised national system managed through the CoWIN app and portal and there are "no issues" with the platform which is entirely compliant with WHO standards.
Now if a person isn't fully vaccinated with one of the four UK-recognised vaccines - Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen - or any formulation of these vaccines, including Covishield, the person must take a test before departure, and must take a test on Day 2 and on Day 8, and then self-isolate for 10 days.
Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine: Over 93.94 crore doses provided to states, UTs so far, says govt
Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine: 70% of India's adult population administered first dose, says Health Minister