London: Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla informed that UK Foreign Office officials have been briefed about the current COVID-19 pandemic situation in India. He said many large cities are practically COVID free, and encouraged the UK to review its travel ban on visitors from India.
Shringlah arrived in the UK on Friday on a two-day visit to take stock of the Roadmap 2030 of UK-India relations agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Boris Johnson. He also shared plans to soon unveil a reciprocal vaccine certification system by the Government of India to facilitate international travel.
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During his visit, he held meetings with senior representatives of the UK government, including Sir Philip Barton, Permanent Under Secretary in the Office for Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development (FCDO) and Lord Tariq Ahmed, FCDO Minister for South Asia. Mumbai, Delhi, big cities are practically free from COVID. But we cannot rest on that situation as we are constantly on alert, asking our citizens to take precautions so that we do not have a third wave, Shringla said. i informed them [UK officials] On the status of covid in India. I pointed out that France has cleared visitors from India without quarantine if they have double vaccination and they test negative. The US has upgraded India’s travel plan, encouraged the UK to do the same and they have taken note of it, he said in response to a question on international travel.
Under current rules, India remains on a travel red list that effectively bans visitors to India, requiring returning citizens to undergo a mandatory 10-day hotel quarantine upon entry into the UK.
With reference to the India-made Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, Covishield not being recognized by the European Union (EU), the Foreign Secretary reiterated that AstraZeneca had applied to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on behalf of the Serum Institute of Medicine. India (SII) wrote in a letter on 14 May. This Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is being manufactured in India under transfer of technology, so there cannot be any difference between the product produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) or anywhere. Otherwise, Shringla said.
The EU has said they will leave it up to individual member states to decide and 14 EU countries have already recognized Covishield, two of them also recognizing Covaxin suo moto.
We are now asking all countries to recognize our vaccine certification on a mutually reciprocal basis, recognizing the integrity of that process, he said. The Foreign Secretary also reflected on the severe second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic faced by India earlier this year and welcomed the significant support from partner countries with essential supplies, including the UK. When I met my UK interlocutors, I also thanked them for the level of spontaneous support they received in the form of oxygen plants, concentrators, cylinders. It was one of the first flights to come from Britain. It was a great morale booster, which boosted confidence at a time when things were looking bleak for no other reason but the short period of gap between demand and supply, he recalled.
Giving an update on India’s current situation, the Foreign Secretary said that India has now reached a point where it is supplying additional liquid oxygen and life saving medicine like Remdesivir to neighboring countries including Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Remdesivir if needed. able to do. Thailand.
(with agency input)
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