Vaccine certification: India hits Britain with tit-for-tat action

From October 4, UK nationals arriving in India will have to undergo a mandatory 10-day quarantine, irrespective of vaccination status, following India's tit-for-tat move over the UK government's rules requiring fully vaccinated Indians to quarantine at home or at destination address upon arrival, unlike travellers from a few other nations.

The development comes days after foreign secretary Harsh Shringla called the UK's rules "discriminatory" and warned that "reciprocal action" may be warranted. The UK rules apply to travellers from India and other countries.

"From October 4, all UK nationals arriving in India from the UK will have to undertake three Covid-19 RT-PCR tests - within 72 hours before travel, on arrival at the airport and on Day 8 after arrival - and mandatory quarantine at home or at destination address for 10 days after arrival," said an official, who did not wish to be identified.


Separate Co-WIN certificates
The ministries of health and civil aviation will take steps to implement the new measures, said officials.

The UK government has faced severe backlash over its refusal to recognise visitors as vaccinated unless they received their shots in a handful of countries such as the US or in Europe. Under travel rules unveiled last month, fully dosed arrivals from these nations are being allowed to enter England without quarantine, starting October 4. However, vaccinated people from various other parts of the world will continue to face tougher restrictions, including a 10-day home isolation period.

Following talks with the Indian government last week, the UK included Covishield, the Indian-made Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, on its list of approved vaccines, but refused to recognise those who had received the jabs in India as fully vaccinated.

Subsequently, the UK said the issue was not the vaccine but the "vaccination certification" process in India. After high-level talks, the two sides announced "progress" in recognising each other's certificates.

National Health Authority chief executive officer RS Sharma said there were "no issues" with the centralised national vaccination system managed through the Co-WIN app and portal, which is entirely compliant with the World Health Organization standards.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Co-WIN portal started issuing separate vaccination certificates for international travellers, with details including date of birth, something that the UK had reportedly urged for, in its talks with the Indian government.