Tit-for-tat move: India slaps reciprocal measures on UK nationals, imposes mandatory Covid testing and quarantine

Sources told UNI India has decided to impose reciprocity on UK nationals arriving in India from the UK.

The new regulations will come into effect from Oct 4, and will be applicable to all UK nationals arriving from Britain.

From Oct 4, all UK nationals arriving in India from the UK, irrespective of their vaccination status, will have to undertake the following measures: Pre-departure Covid-19 RT-PCR test within 72 hours before travel; Covid-19 RT-PCR test on arrival at airport; Covid-19 RT-PCR test on Day 8 after arrival.

Besides, all UK nationals arriving from the United Kingdom will have to undergo mandatory quarantine at home or in the destination address for 10 days after arrival in India, the sources added.

Authorities in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare would be taking steps to implement the new measures, the sources added.

The reciprocal measures come nearly 10 days after the UK announced the go-ahead to AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine but left out India from the list of approved countries for vaccine certification.

Though British High Commissioner in India Alex Ellis said on Sept 22 that they were holding talks at “a rapid pace” to ensure “both countries mutually recognise the vaccine certificates issued by each other", the talks appear to have hit a dead end.

Friday's move comes days after Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had warned that India could "impose reciprocal measures” if the UK did not heed India’s request to give recognition to India’s Covid vaccination.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had also raised the issue during a bilateral meeting with the new UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.