India to impose 'reciprocity' on UK nationals, makes quarantine at home or destination address for 10 days mandatory

In a major development, keeping in mind the vaccine certificate issue, India is all set to impose "reciprocity" on UK nationals arriving in India from the country. 

As per sources, all UK nationals will have to take mandatory quarantine at home or destination address for 10 days after arrival in India. These new rules will come into effect from October 4. A while back, though the UK had approved the Covishield vaccine in its revised guidelines for travel, it had made quarantine compulsory for double-vaccinated Indians on grounds of "vaccination certification issues".

At the time, British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis had told a leading daily, "India is still on the Amber category because there are still some COVID-19 cases in India. Most other nations on the list that do not need any quarantine are in the green category, where the number of active cases is very low in comparison."

He had further said, "While Covishield is approved, the UK government is still trying to understand how the Indian Covid vaccine app works. And let me assure you, that this is a two-way process. We are also letting India know how the UK government Covid app works. Once we understand this better and know that it is absolutely safe, we can go ahead and remove the quarantine for Indian travellers."

(With inputs from Sidhant Sibal)