New Delhi: India is reportedly set to impose reciprocity on British nationals, under which UK nationals arriving in the country from the UK must undergo mandatory quarantine at home or at their destination address for 10 days following their arrival.
The move is likely to be taken in response to the United Kingdom’s new travel rules, in which Indian travellers, even those who have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, will be treated as unvaccinated.
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According to a report, the reciprocity will come into effect from 4 October, the same day the new UK travel rules will come into force.
“The new rules will come into effect from October 4, and will apply to all UK nationals arriving from the UK,” a source quoted by news agency ANI said.
Accordingly, from 4 October, all UK nationals arriving in India from the UK, irrespective of their immunization status, will have to undergo pre-departure COVID-19 RT-PCR test, RT-PCR test on arrival, within 72 hours of travel. RT-PCR test at the airport and 8 days after arrival.
“UK nationals coming to India from the UK will have to undergo mandatory quarantine at home or at the destination address for 10 days after arrival,” the source said.
It was also informed that the officials of the Ministry of Health and Civil Aviation would take steps to implement the new measures.
UK’s “discriminatory” travel rules
It comes as India said last month that AstraZeneca would be within its rights to take reciprocal measures against the UK’s “discriminatory” move to recognize a COVID-19 vaccine, but only if the issue was addressed in a satisfactory manner. Not Coveshield if not resolved.
Even as the new British regulations state that AstraZeneca CoviShield is among the vaccines that qualify as approved, India is not yet in the list of 17 countries mentioned, ANI reported.
The ‘Changes to International Travel Rules’ states that formulations of the four listed vaccines, namely AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxjeveria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines.
However, according to new British regulations, travelers will qualify for full vaccination if they have taken a full course of Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados . Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan or the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
As stated earlier, India is not included in the list of countries.
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