Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar spoke with the UK Foreign Secretary. (File)
Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar spoke with the UK Foreign Secretary today, a day after the UK added India to its vaccine-eligible countries list for Covishield, which would mean fully vaccinated Indians will no longer be required to quarantine on arrival in Britain from Monday. The move ended a diplomatic row over vaccine certification.
"Good to talk to UK Foreign Secretary @trussliz (Liz Truss). Agreed to facilitate travel between our two countries. This will help to implement the Roadmap 2030," Dr Jaishankar tweeted.
Eligible travellers vaccinated in over 37 new countries, including India and Pakistan, will be treated the same as returning fully vaccinated UK residents, so long as they have not visited a red list country or territory in the 10 days before arriving in England, the UK's Department for Transport said.
On October 1, in response to the UK quarantine rules for Indians and citizens of several nations, including those vaccinated with UK-approved Covishield, India had imposed mandatory 10-day quarantine for British citizens irrespective of vaccination status.
Described as discriminatory and even "colonialist", the UK government had faced intense backlash over its refusal to recognise visitors as vaccinated unless they received their shots in a handful of select countries.
"I'm also making changes so travellers visiting England have fewer entry requirements, by recognising those with fully-vax status from 37 new countries and territories including India, Turkey and Ghana, treating them the same as UK fully vax passengers," Britain's Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps tweeted.
"The decision was taken after close technical cooperation between our ministries taking public health factors into account," a British High Commission spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday.
The spokesperson said the UK keeps efficacy data and information on vaccine rollout internationally under review, and has kept visa rules under constant review throughout the pandemic to keep borders open whilst gradually and safely restarting travel.
People who are not fully vaccinated with one of the four UK-recognised vaccines (Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna, Janssen) or any formulation of these vaccines, including Covishield, must take a pre-departure test, and must take a Covid test on or before Day 2 and on or after Day 8, and self-isolate for 10 days. Travellers can also choose to shorten their home quarantine to around five days.