No quarantine for fully vaccinated Indian travellers to UK from October 11

Indian travellers to UK who are fully vaccinated will not be placed in quarantine, they will not be required to take a pre-departure COVID test or a test on eighth day of their arrival in UK.

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New Delhi: Indian travellers to UK who are fully vaccinated will not be quarantined, the new rule will come into force from Monday, October 11, the High Commissioner to India said on Thursday (October 7) thus bringing an end to the purported unfair imposition of COVID-19 quarantine rules.

Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India said, "No quarantine for Indian travellers to UK fully vaccinated with Covishield or another UK-approved vaccine from 11 October. Thanks to Indian government for close cooperation over last month."

No quarantine for Indian travellers to UK fully vaccinated with Covishield or another UK-approved vaccine from 11 October.

Thanks to Indian government for close cooperation over last month. pic.twitter.com/cbI8Gqp0Qt — Alex Ellis (@AlexWEllis) October 7, 2021

The rules further state that if a person is vaccinated with both the doses of Covidshield and it has been over 14 days since the second dose then entry into UK will be granted. The mandatory COVID test report too has been scrapped.

The British High Commission in an official statement to Zee News said: From 11 October, Indian travellers who have received both doses of Covishield or another UK-approved vaccine at least 14 days before arrival in the UK can travel without having to quarantine; will not be required to take a pre-departure test nor take a day 8 test following their arrival.

If you aren’t fully vaccinated with one of the four UK-recognised vaccines (Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna, Janssen) or any formulation of these vaccines, including Covishield: you must take a pre-departure test, and must take a Covid19 test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8, and self-isolate for 10 days. Travellers can also choose to shorten their home quarantine to around 5 days under the ‘Test to Release’ service.

The change in policy comes weeks after a tit-for-tat move by India making 10-day quarantine mandatory for all UK travellers visiting India.

As per UK last month's guidelines, Indian travellers jabbed with doses of Covishield were to be considered unvaccinated and were to undergo self-isolation for 10 days. UK's guidelines were seen as discriminatory by India.

Earlier, UK had refused to recognise India's COVID vaccine certificate, while Covishield is an approved vaccine against COVID-19.

(This is a breaking news story, more details are awaited)