10-day quarantine for all UK citizens arriving in India from Monday: Report

The British nationals, irrespective of their vaccination status, will again have to undertake RT-PCR test on Day 8 of their arrival in India, sources told PTI

British nationals arriving in India, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undergo 10 days of mandatory quarantine from October 4 as part of the reciprocal actions initiated by the government following the vaccine certification row between the two countries, reported PTI on Friday.

India has decided to impose reciprocal actions on British nationals arriving in India, official sources said as the issue relating to the UK not recognising Indian vaccine certificates could not be resolved.

They said India's new regulations will come into effect from October 4 and they will be applicable to all British nationals arriving in India from the UK.

Under the norms, all British nationals arriving in India from the UK, irrespective of their vaccination status, will also have to undertake the pre-departure COVID-19 RT-PRC test within 72 hours before travel, the sources said.

They will also have to undertake COVID-19 RT-PCR test on arrival.

The British nationals, irrespective of their vaccination status, will again have to undertake RT-PCR test on Day 8 of their arrival in India, the sources said.

The British nationals will also have to undergo mandatory quarantine at home or in destination address for 10 days after arrival, they said.

These measures will come in the back of the UK government recently issuing an updated international travel advisory to include AstraZeneca Covishield among the eligible COVID-19 vaccine formulations but kept India out of the 18 countries on an approved vaccinations list, requiring Indians to follow rules set out for "non-vaccinated" travellers.

Despite the inclusion of Covishield, Indian travellers are not exempt from the quarantine rules under the UK's new international travel norms that will come into force from October 4, with the British officials in New Delhi maintaining that the main issue is vaccine certification and not the vaccine and that both India and the UK are holding talks to mutually resolve the matter.

According to the UK rules, Indian travellers who have received both doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) will be considered unvaccinated and will have to undergo self-isolation for 10 days.

Developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and pharma giant AstraZeneca, Covishield is one of the two anti-COVID vaccines used by India -- Bharat Biotech's Covaxin being the other --in its vaccination drive across the country.

There was widespread condemnation of the UK's decision in India to not cover Covishield under the reviewed international travel norms and the government on Tuesday warned of "reciprocal measures" if its concerns relating to the vaccine certification are not addressed by October 4 when these norms come into effect.

The new travel advisory came amid much confusion over the process for Indian travellers as the advisory states: “Formulations of the 4 listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines.” However, UK government officials have indicated that Indian travellers to the UK must follow the “non-vaccinated rules”, which means Indian passengers must take a COVID test three days before departure and book in advance for two COVID tests to be taken upon arrival in England.

On arrival in England, the passengers must self-isolate in the place they have confirmed on their passenger locator form for 10 days. A privately paid-for "Test to Release" option does exist at day five, which allows an early end to the 10-day quarantine with a negative PCR test.

The upcoming rules are effectively not going to change India's current amber list status, even though from October 4 England's traffic light system of red, amber and green countries based on levels of COVID-19 risk is to be officially scrapped. Despite Covishield being one of the main vaccines being administered in India and falling within the UK's eligible formulations, it would not offer any advantage to Indian travellers planning a UK visit.

Covishield and other Indian vaccines being covered as eligible would mean that self-isolation and a pre-departure PCR test is no longer required as long as vaccinated travellers pre-book a day two test post-arrival in England and complete the compulsory passenger locator form in advance.

From October 4, travellers from 18 additional countries with eligible vaccines, including Australia, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, will fall under the UK's list of recognised jabs of Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines. The UK's Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said this list is reviewed fortnightly.

The Indian government had said it is working with several countries to recognise India's vaccine certification on a “mutual reciprocal basis”.