India off UK red list but no relief as vaccines used here not cleared

India off UK red list but no relief as vaccines used here not cleared

Naomi Canton

London: 06.08.2021

India will be moved off the UK’s red list this Sunday, bringing relief to tens of thousands of Indian students and opening the door for Indian nationals without UK residence rights to travel to Britain for the first time since April 23.

On Thursday, UK announced that India, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE will be moved from the red to the amber list on August 8 “as the situation in these countries has improved”. But whilst those who have been double vaccinated with vaccines in the UK, Europe and the US will be exempt from home quarantine upon arrival from an amber list country, those who have received vaccines in India — Covaxin, Sputnik V and Covishield — will still have to self-isolate for 10 days, sparking claims of discrimination against India’s vaccines.

Welcome news for Indian students planning UK visit

The UK government says that anyone fully vaccinated under the UK vaccination programme, or vaccinated with a vaccine authorised by the European Medicines Agency for Europe, Swissmedic for Switzerland, or FDA for the US, who arrives from an amber country, is exempt from home quarantine.

No doses of the Moderna vaccine, which has been authorised by the FDA and approved by the Indian government, have arrived in India yet. From 8.30 am IST on August 8, when India moves to the amber list, travellers from India must now quarantine at home or the place they are staying for 10 days, as well as take a pre-departure Covid-test and two tests after arrival. This replaces the system under the red list when they were required by law to quarantine in a managed hotel for 10 days — at a cost per adult of £1,750 that is set to rise to £2,285 (Rs 2.3 lakh) on August 12.

The move follows a trip by foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to London on July 24 when he asked the UK to review its travel ban on visitors from India, stating that “Mumbai, Delhi, big cities are practically free of Covid”.

It is welcome news for the 65,000 Indian students who are expected to arrive in the UK in the next few weeks. “This will really help Indian students who cannot afford these exorbitant hotel quarantine fees,” said Indian National Students Association UK president Amit Tiwari. “Indians will have a big cost saving and it is better for their mental well-being to quarantine on campus rather than in a hotel,” said Sanam Arora, chairperson of the National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK.

“If someone is vaccinated in India, they should be treated the same as someone vaccinated in Europe. Or else that is discrimination,” pointed out Sunil Amar, a private banker in London. “It is amazing news and very sensible to take India off the red list because numbers are down and this means travel will be back so it will help airlines,” he said. The Joint Biosecurity Centre released data to back up the decision showing that of 5,263 travellers tested upon arrival from India between July 1 and July 21, 49 (0.9%) tested positive for Covid-19.