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Visitors from the UK to India need to undergo a 10-day quarantine

UK citizens who arrive in India will be asked to spend a mandatory 10-day quarantine, irrespective of their vaccination status.

In what could look like a tit-for-tat move from the Indian administration, a new quarantine rule is being brought in for British citizens arriving in the country.

Starting Monday next, British citizens flying down to India will have to spend a mandatory 10 days in quarantine. This is irrespective of their vaccination status.

The move by India is speculated as a retort to the UK’s rules for people arriving from India and other nations. An NDTV report quoting official sources said that all British citizens arriving in India will have to go into quarantine for 10 days, either at their homes in India or at the destination address provided at the time of travel.

They will also have to take three COVID-19 RTPCR tests. These tests shall be spaced as within 72 hours of travel, on arrival in an Indian airport, and on the eighth day after arrival. The rule will come into effect starting October 4, Monday.

The UK had earlier decided to recognise visitors as vaccinated only if they had received their COVID-19 vaccinations shots in select countries. Also, vaccinated people from countries like India were to spend 10 days in isolation after they landed in the UK.

UK norms on vaccine certificates had created a furore

This had created quite a furore, and many had described the UK move as colonialist and discriminatory. As backlash in India grew, Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla also condemned the UK rules and had then said that it would warrant reciprocal decisions.

After so much rebuke, the UK finally conceded to recognise India’s Covishield as an approved vaccine. However, the UK hasn’t yet brought India on the list of acceptable places to receive the jabs. This, in effect, meant that only those who got Covishield jabs in the UK were recognised, while those who got the COVID-19 vaccine shots on Indian soil were left out.

Though the UK official had apprised India that the only problem was regarding India’s COVID-19 vaccination certification process, this also met with opposition and finally both the nations deliberated on the issue further and came to a conclusion that each other’s certificates would be recognised.

Now with the 10-day quarantine and testing norms being rolled out, it remains to be seen how the UK will respond.

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Sanjeev Ramachandran

A journalist with 23 years of experience, Sanjeev has worked with reputed media houses such as Business Standard, The Ne More »
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