Faced with reciprocal measures from India against British nationals over the last few days, the UK government has lifted restrictions on Indian travellers to the UK. From October 11, there will be no quarantine for Indian travellers who are fully vaccinated with Covishield or another UK-approved vaccine. Announcing this on Thursday night, British High Commissioner Alex Ellis said, “From Monday the 11th of October, a traveler from India to the UK, double jabbed with COVID shield [Covishield] or another vaccine recognized by the UK regulator does not have to be quarantined. So, it will be easier and cheaper to enter the UK. This is great news.” Ellis thanked the Indian government for close cooperation over last month. While there was no official word from the government, it is expected that New Delhi will also lift the restrictions on British nationals travelling from the UK to India. Earlier in the day, India had said it was hopeful of finding a solution to the contentious vaccine certification row with the UK through talks, even as it insisted that Britain’s travel restrictions on Indian nationals were “clearly discriminatory”. Last week, India had decided that UK nationals arriving here from that country will have to undergo mandatory 10-day quarantine from October 4 (Sunday midnight), weeks after the UK imposed similar restrictions on Indian travellers. The British travel rules had also kicked in from October 4. India had made changes in the Covid-19 vaccination certificates by including the date of birth, but British authorities had taken time to go through its internal processes before lifting the restrictions. A British High Commission spokesperson said on Thursday, “The UK has further opened up international travel and will recognise India’s vaccine certification system from 11 October. The decision was taken after close technical cooperation between our Ministries taking public health factors into account.” Pitching for lifting of restrictions from the Indian side and opening up travel, the British High Commission said, “We have been actually open for Indian travellers for months, we’ve been issuing 1000s of visas to students, to business travellers to tourists, and it’s the product of excellent discussions with the Indian authorities.let’s now go further. Let’s open up more flights between the two countries.”
