UK recognises Indian vaccine certificate: No quarantine for COVISHIELD-vaccinated travellers from Oct 11

Indian travellers fully vaccinated with COVISHIELD or any other UK-approved vaccine will not have to quarantine on entering the UK from October 11, 2021, onwards. Earlier, the UK had refused to recognize India’s COVID vaccine certification and mandated that Indian travellers undergo 10-days isolation even if fully vaccinated with COVISHIELD. Stating the quarantine guidelines by the UK as discriminatory, India also imposed reciprocal rules of mandatory 10-day quarantine on all UK nationals arriving in the country.

Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India tweeted, “No quarantine for Indian travellers to UK fully vaccinated with Covishield or another UK-approved vaccine from 11 October. Thanks to the Indian government for close cooperation over last month."

No quarantine for Indian 🇮🇳 travellers to UK 🇬🇧 fully vaccinated with Covishield or another UK-approved vaccine from 11 October.

Thanks to Indian government for close cooperation over last month. pic.twitter.com/cbI8Gqp0Qt

— Alex Ellis (@AlexWEllis) October 7, 2021

UK recognizes India’s COVID vaccine certificate: No quarantine for fully vaccinated Indian travellers from October 11 – Key details

From October 11 onwards, fully vaccinated Indian travellers who have been administered with both doses of COVISHIELD or another UK-approved COVID vaccine (Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna, Janssen) at least 14 days before arriving in the UK need not quarantine. They also need not take a pre-departure test nor take a Day 8 test after their arrival in the country.

If not vaccinated

However, if one is not fully vaccinated with any one of the four UK-approved vaccines including COVISHIELD, then one will have to take a pre-departure test, take a COVID-19 test on or before Day 2 and on or after Day 8, and quarantine for 10 days. Though, travellers can reduce their quarantine duration to around 5 days under the ‘Test to Release’ service.

India-UK row over discriminatory quarantine rules, COVID-19 certification  - Background

As per the previous COVID guidelines by the UK that came into effect on October 4, Indian travellers fully vaccinated with COVISHIELD or any other approved vaccine were considered unvaccinated and were mandated to undergo quarantine for 10-days. Despite COVISHIELD being a recognized vaccine, the UK did not recognize India’s COVISHIELD vaccine certification.

Terming the UK’s guidelines as discriminatory, India also imposed a mandatory 10-day quarantine on all UK nationals arriving in India irrespective of their vaccination status with effect from October 4, 2021.