India brings in quarantine for Brits in retaliation against UK travel rules
Travellers will have to remain in isolation for 10 days even if fully vaccinated
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
India has introduced a 10-day quarantine on all UK arrivals in retaliation to the British government's refusal to change its travel rules.
UK travellers will have to quarantine even if fully vaccinated from 4 October, the Indian health ministry announced on Friday after officials failed to get recognition for the Indian vaccine programme in Britain.
Under changes to the UK travel rules coming in on 4 October, arrivals will not have to quarantine if they have been fully vaccinated with certain jabs by approved foreign health bodies.
India's AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine, a locally produced version of the British jab, has been approved but India's health body has not. Officials in Delhi called the decision discriminatory.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the foreign minister, said when the UK rule change was announced that it was in the “mutual interest” of both countries for the rules to be changed.
The British high commissioner in India said the quarantine rules were not related to the certification of the vaccine but because there was still “some Covid” in the country.
An Indian government source told Reuters that India was being reciprocal in introducing its new quarantine rules. The Indian health ministry said the move was taken due to “the trajectory” of Covid cases in the UK.
Around 17 per cent of India’s 1.4 billion population has been fully vaccinated. India has recorded between 18,000 and 30,000 Covid-19 cases every day for the past few weeks. It currently has more than 300,000 active cases.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments