Indian travellers arriving in the United Kingdom will not be required to remain in mandatory 10-day quarantine from October 11, British High Commissioner Alex Ellis announced on Thursday. The announcement was made as part of the revised British policy regarding international travel to the U.K., which will be continuously reviewed by health officials in London to track spike in cases of COVID-19 abroad.
“No quarantine for Indian travellers to UK fully vaccinated with Covishield or another UK-approved vaccine from 11 October.
Thanks to (the) Indian government for close cooperation over last month,” said High Commissioner Alex Ellis in an official announcement on social media.
The development came hours after the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi reiterated that the British travel restrictions on vaccinated Indian travellers are “discriminatory”. In a counter-measure India had imposed new travel restrictions requiring 10-day mandatory quarantine on U.K. passport holders, that came into effect on October 4. Both sides however maintained that talks were under way to resolve the deadlock over the U.K.’s disinclination to recognise vaccination certificates from India.
The new notification that will come into effect on October 11 will reduce the Red List of the U.K. to seven countries, further opening up the British economy for post-COVID global business and tourism. The same announcement also informed that proof of vaccination will be recognised from travellers from 37 countries, including India, Pakistan, Turkey and South Africa.
The problem over the Indian vaccination certificates had cast a shadow on U.K.-India ties over the past few weeks. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met his British counterpart Liz Truss in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month to resolve the problem which centred on “technical issues” regarding the CoWin platform. Thursday’s policy revision was made possible after “close technical cooperation”, said a British High Commission spokesperson.
“The extension of vaccine certification is a further step to enable people to travel more freely again, in a safe and sustainable way, while protecting public health,” said the British High Commission spokesperson. However, travellers from the 37 exempted countries need to avoid the Red List countries for 10 days prior to reaching England.
