India has imposed new rules on UK nationals arriving in the country, regardless of their vaccination status. The UK recently amended its international travel rules to make quarantine mandatory for those coming from India. It clarified that in order to enter the UK, a negative report on the Covid-19 test is mandatory and you have to stay in quarantine for ten days. In addition, those who have been vaccinated are considered to have not been vaccinated. India too responded harshly to UK travel guidelines.
The same rule applies to UK citizens. The RT-PCR test negative report is mandatory for UK citizens wishing to come to India from the 4th of October. Also, it has recently issued guidelines for 10 days of mandatory quarantine upon arrival in India. Another reason for India's decision is the slow-running vaccination program in the UK. The new rules apply irrespective of having had both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. With this, the Vaccination certificate row between the two nations has reached to peaks. India’s act is nothing but tit-for-tat diplomatic retaliation by India against the UK - UK nationals- even fully vaccinated. Both countries have to end this now - thousands traveling daily between both countries will suffer.
Why did India fail to convince the United Kingdom of its vaccination program when we are using the UK-made Covishield made in collaboration with the AstraZeneca vaccine? The cost of quarantine in the UK is many folds higher than in India and Indians traveling to the UK for work or study can't avoid the travel. Which British citizen is so keen to spend 10 days quarantine in India? The UK has reacted to India’s reciprocal move and said that it is “continuing to engage” with India on technical cooperation to expand its recognition of vaccine certification after New Delhi decided to impose reciprocal measures on British nationals. The UK has issued over 62,500 student visas have been issued in the year ending June 2021, which is an increase of almost 30% as compared to the previous year.
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