Britain has finally relented, ending a long and bitter standoff between the two countries that saw India retaliate by imposing same measures simultaneously from this Monday (Oct 4).
Now, say people in the know, travellers who have got Covishield in India will from next Monday, among other things, need a Covid test o day 2 which also can be the less expensive “lateral flow” test and not RT-PCT. The finer details of the latest announcement are awaited.
“I’m also making changes so travellers visiting England have fewer entry requirements, by recognising those with fully-vaccinated status from 37 new countries and territories including India, Turkey and Ghana, treating them the same as UK fully vaccinated passengers. The measures announced today mark the next step as we continue to open up travel and provide stability for passengers and industry while remaining on track to keep travel open for good,” Grant Shapps, UK’s secretary of state for transport tweeted.
I’m also making changes so travellers visiting England have fewer entry requirements, by recognising those with ful… https://t.co/bGZaDsU8yz
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) 1633623797000
India, which had incorporated the date of birth of vaccinated person in dd-mm-yy format in its vaccination certificates, is likely to reciprocate, say travel industry sources.
Shapps also tweeted that he is cutting 47 destinations from UK’s red list from Monday (Oct 11). “I’ll be cutting 47 destinations from our red list – including South Africa, with just 7 countries and territories remaining — all others will be included in the ‘rest of world’ category,” he said.
The UK has from October 4 switched over to a new system where it has a red list of countries (with a high incidence of Covid) and a non-red list.
The fully vaccinated with WHO-approved jabs from many of the non-red list countries are now spared quarantine and expensive recurring Covid tests on arrival in the UK.
While India is a non-red list country, the UK had so far not accepted India’s Covishield vaccine certification due to which travellers from India (if they had got their Covishield here) were treated as unvaccinated and required to undergo 10-day quarantine with expensive Covid tests on day 2 and 8 of arrival. India had from this Monday reciprocated by imposing similar conditions from arrivals from the UK.