India imposes retaliatory COVID-19 restrictions on British nationals
India has imposed retaliatory COVID-19 restrictions on British nationals, and to be subjected to a 10-day mandatory quarantine, in response to similar measures imposed on Indian nationals.
India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla called Britain’s decision not to recognise the Indian version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, known as Covishield.
He had warned of reciprocal measures should London fail to reconsider.
“All British arrivals, irrespective of their vaccination status will have to present a negative COVID-19 test taken a maximum of 72 hours prior to departure, undergo a second test on arrival and a third eight days later, starting from Monday.”
According to a foreign ministry official, “A mandatory quarantine period of 10 days will also be enforced.”
The British government announced last month it would allow fully vaccinated travellers to skip quarantine and take fewer tests, but only recognised vaccination under the American, British or European programmes or those authorised by an approved health body.
More than a dozen countries in Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East made it to the list, but India’s programme was not included. Similarly, no programme in the African continent was accepted.
The vast majority of Indians have been vaccinated with Indian-made AstraZeneca shots, which has been produced by Serum Institute of India. Others have received COVAXIN, a vaccine produced by an Indian company that is not used in Britain.
India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, announced earlier this week that it would resume donations of surplus coronavirus vaccines after it froze exports due to a surge in domestic infections.
Britain’s refusal to accept certain vaccine certificates has led to concerns that it could exacerbate vaccine hesitancy.
Countries that received hundreds of thousands of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the British government were left wondering why their vaccination programmes were not good enough in the eyes of its provider.
Britain is one of the worst performers in the COVAX programme, through which industrialised countries reallocate vaccines to poorer countries.
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