Engaging With India on Vaccine Certification: UK After India's Reciprocal Move

All United Kingdom (UK) nationals arriving in India from the UK will have to undergo mandatory quarantine at home or in the destination address for 10 days after the arrival, reported ANI on Friday, 1 October, citing sources.

(Photo Courtesy: The Quint)

Just as India imposed reciprocal quarantine measures on United Kingdom nationals on Friday, 1 October, the spokesperson of the British High Commission told ANI that UK continues to engage with the Indian government on the issue of vaccine certification.

"We are continuing to engage with the Government of India on technical cooperation to expand UK recognition of vaccine certification to people vaccinated by a relevant public health body in India."

Spokesperson, British High Commission

As per the new guidelines, all United Kingdom nationals arriving in India from the country will have to undergo mandatory quarantine at home or in the destination address for 10 days after arrival, reported ANI citing sources.

The news Cagney also quoted sources as saying,"All UK nationals arriving in India from the UK, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undertake pre-departure COVID-19 RT-PCR test within 72 hours before travel."

They will also have to take RT-PCR test on arrival at the airport and an RT-PCR test on day eight of their arrival.

The new regulations are slated to come into effect from 4 October.

This comes days after the UK announced that travellers from India who have been vaccinated by Covishield, the locally manufactured version of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, will be required to undertake a compulsory 10-day quarantine upon their arrival to the UK.

UK's Contentious Travel Rules for Indian Travellers

A day after controversy erupted over the UK's initial non-recognition of Covishield, the United Kingdom on 22 September, had updated its travel guidelines to include the Serum Institute of India (SII)-manufactured vaccine in its list of recognised vaccines.

However, India does not feature in a list of countries mentioned by the UK where vaccination from the relevant public health body would count as an individual being vaccinated. As a fallout, Indians vaccinated by Covishield would be considered unvaccinated by the UK.

While no official reason has been provided by the UK government for this rule, the UK High Commission on 21 September had asserted that their government is "working with India to expand recognition of vaccine certification," suggesting that the problem lies within the CoWin-issued vaccination certificate.

However, National Health Authority CEO and CoWin chief RS Sharma told NDTV in an interview that the certificate system is WHO-compliant.

"There are no issues on CoWin with certification... system is entirely WHO compliant.

UK's Travel Policy 'Discriminatory': Centre

As the UK ruled out its new travel advisory, the Indian government, on 21 September, had termed the new international travel policy as "discriminatory."

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, as quoted by ANI, had said: "The non-recognition of Covishield is a discriminating policy and impacts our citizens travelling to the UK. The EAM has raised the issue strongly with the new UK foreign secretary. I am told that certain assurances have been given that this issue will be resolved."

(With inputs from ANI)