Guidelines for global travellers revised

THE UNION Health Ministry said on Wednesday that travellers from countries “which provide quarantine-free entry to Indians” will be allowed “certain relaxations”, including exemption from home quarantine if they are fully vaccinated.

However, they will have to upload a negative RT-PCR report — the test should have been conducted not more than 72 hours before the journey. The guidelines will come into effect from October 25. “There are countries which have agreement with India on mutual recognition of vaccination certificates of nationally-recognised or WHO-recognised vaccines. Similarly, there are countries which presently do not have such an agreement with India, but they exempt Indian citizens who are fully vaccinated with nationally-recognised or WHO-recognised vaccines. On the basis of reciprocity, the travellers from all such countries which provide quarantine-free entry to Indians are allowed certain relaxations on arrival,” the new guidelines said.

Fully-vaccinated travellers from countries with which India has reciprocal arrangements for acceptance of WHO-approved vaccines will only have to self-monitor their health for 14 days post-arrival. If they are not vaccinated or partially vaccinated, they have to submit their samples on arrival, home quarantine for seven days, undergo a test on the eighth day, and continue to self-monitor for another seven days. India has signed agreements for mutual recognition of nationally or WHO-recognised vaccines with the UK, France, Germany, Nepal, Belarus, Lebanon, Armenia, Ukraine, Belgium, Hungary and Serbia.