“India Still Has Some Covid”: UK On Stricter Quarantine Rules For Indians

Alex Ellis, the British High Commissioner to India, has stressed that the Serum Institute of India-made vaccine “is not the issue” amid an intensifying dispute over the UK government maintaining a rigorous quarantine for Indian passengers fully immunised against Covid with Covishield.

Despite the fact that it is the same vaccination as the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine used in the UK’s immunisation programme, the UK government has not approved it until now. Even present, Covishield is only recognised if it is administered in one of the 17 countries on the “green list” (India is not on this list).

Indian travellers who have been fully vaccinated with Covishield must still undergo a ten-day quarantine and take two RT-PCR tests.

“Is it true that you were a ‘green-listed’ country? The majority of the countries on our list of 17 are ‘green-listed,’ meaning they have very low levels of covid… As far as we know, India still has some Covid. That is why it has been placed on the ‘amber’ list “In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Mr Ellis said.

“We listen very attentively to what the Indian government says,” he added when asked if Covishield had now been approved under diplomatic pressure.

On Tuesday, India threatened “reciprocal action” in response to the “discriminatory nature of UK vaccine recognition.”

Another source of contention was a statement issued by the British High Commission in India on September 20. It seemed to imply that the British government was sceptical about India’s Co-Win immunisation certificates.

“We’re talking to the Indian government about expanding the UK’s recognition of vaccination certification to persons who have been vaccinated by a relevant public health organisation in India,” the statement said.

Mr Ellis stated that the United Kingdom had no reservations with India’s immunisation campaign.

“We have to have confidence (in the Co-Win app)…

We’ve been having thorough technical discussions between the developers of the NHS app in the UK and the Co-Win app in India for the past few weeks. They’ve been discussing how the apps work, as well as their security protocols “he stated

“It’s a brand-new policy that will take some time to iron out. Because of the amazing movement of people between the two nations, what happens in the UK has an impact on public health in India, and what happens in India has an impact on public health in the UK. As a result, we must get this correctly.”