No quarantine for fully vaccinated Indians

VACCINATED Indians were not required to quarantine on arrival in the UK from Monday (11), as Britain scrapped tough Covid-19 quarantine requirements for 47 destinations.

Travellers vaccinated in India and Pakistan are among those who will be treated the same as returning fully vaccinated UK residents, so long as they have not visited a red-list country or territory in the 10 days before arriving in England, the Department for Transport said.

A spokesperson of the British High Commission in India said, “The UK has further opened up international travel and will recognise India’s vaccine certification system from October 11.

“The decision was taken after close cooperation between our ministries taking public health factors into account. The extension of vaccine certification is a further step to enable people to travel more freely again, while protecting public health.”

From Monday, Indian travellers who have received both doses of Covishield or any other UK-approved vaccine at least 14 days before arrival in the UK can travel without having to quarantine, officials said. They will also not be required to take a predeparture test nor a day-eight test following their arrival.

Those not fully vaccinated with one of the four UK-recognised vaccines (Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna, Janssen) or any formulation of these vaccines, including Covishield, must take a pre-departure test, and a Covid-19 test on or before day two and on or after day eight, and self-isolate for 10 days.

Travellers can also choose to shorten their home quarantine to around five days under the ‘Test to Release’ service.

Many countries with high infection levels had been put on a red list, requiring arrivals to spend 10 days in a governmentprovided quarantine hotel, while the need for a PCR test and other tests often cost more than the flight itself.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said last Thursday (7) that restoring people’s confidence in travel was key to rebuilding the economy.

“With less restrictions and more people travelling, we can all continue to move safely forward together along our pathway to recovery,” he said.