UK travellers arriving in India to undergo mandatory 10-day quarantine from Oct 4

The government on Friday announced a mandatory 10-day quarantine for travellers coming to India from the United Kingdom. This will apply to all travellers irrespective of their COVID-19 vaccination status. The rule will come into effect from October 4, 2021.

Travellers from the UK will have to undergo an RT-PCR test and carry the (COVID) negative report before travelling to India and take a similar test on the eighth day of quarantine.

"India has decided to impose reciprocity on UK nationals arriving in India from the UK. New regulations will come into effect from October 4, and will be applicable to all UK nationals arriving from the UK," sourced told ANI on Friday.

Guidelines for UK travellers arriving in India

From October 4, all UK nationals arriving in the country from the United Kingdom, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to follow these measures:

• Take a pre-departure COVID-19 test within 72 hours before travelling to India.
• Take a COVID-19 RT-PCR test on arrival at the airport
• Take a COVID-19 RT-PCR test on Day 8 on quarantine

All travellers will have to undergo a mandatory quarantine at home or at the destination address for 10 days after arriving in India. Earlier in the last week of September, the United Kingdom had announced changes in its travel and quarantine rules. As per the new rules, fully vaccinated Indians were considered "unvaccinated" and had to undergo a mandatory 10-day quarantine upon arrival in the UK.

The UK had left out India from the list of 18 countries whose vaccine it had approved. This meant that travellers from India had to follow rules set out for "non-vaccinated" travellers despite Covishield being recognised within UK's eligible vaccine formulations.

Travellers who are not fully vaccinated or fully vaccinated in a country such as India, which is not on the UK's approved vaccination list, currently have to undergo 10-day mandatory quarantine upon arrival in the UK.