'Will Make Travel For Indians As Easy As Possible': UK Responds To India's Reciprocal Curbs

According to a report, the reciprocity will come into force from October 4, the same day UK's new travel rules come into effect. 

Representational Image. (File Photo)

New Delhi: India on Friday decided to impose reciprocity on British nationals under which UK nationals arriving in the country will have to undergo mandatory quarantine at home or in the destination address for 10 days after their arrival. The decision came after the UK had announced the new travel rules, according to which every Indian citizen, even those who have received both doses of the Covishield vaccine, will be considered unvaccinated. 

The British High Commission has responded to India's new travel rules by saying that the commission was working with the central government to make the travelling process for Indian citizens as easy as possible.

The commission further said that it is using a "phased approach" in expanding its travel policy. “The UK is continuing to work on expanding the policy to countries and territories across the globe in a phased approach. We are continuing to engage with the Government of India on technical cooperation to expand UK recognition of vaccine certification to people vaccinated by a relevant public health body in India," the spokesperson of the British High Commission was quoted by News 18 in its report.

According to a report, the reciprocity will come into force from October 4, the same day UK's new travel rules come into effect. 

According to it, from October 4, all UK nationals arriving in India from the UK, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undertake pre-departure COVID-19 RT-PCR test within 72 hours before travel, RT-PCR test on arrival at airport and RT-PCR test on Day 8 after arrival. 

However, as per the new British rules, travellers will qualify as fully vaccinated if they have taken a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan or the United Arab Emirates (UAE).