The UK relaxes travel restrictions for people travelling from India, under the United Kingdom’s traffic light system for international travel, India moved from the UK’s red to amber list.
As per the new governmental guidelines, fully vaccinated passengers from India will no longer be liable to a compulsory 10-day hotel quarantine. The people travelling from India to England can now quarantine at home. The new changes were announced by the Department of Transport and it comes into effect from 8th August, 4 a.m local time on Sunday.
The U.K Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps tweeted, “The UAE, Qatar, India and Bahrain will be moved from the red list to the amber list. All changes come into effect Sun 8th August at 4 a.m.” Hence, the UK lifts quarantine curbs for vaccinated individuals.
He also said, “While it’s right we continue our cautious approach, it’s great news to open more destinations for people wanting to connect with families, friends and businesses across the globe, all thanks to our successful, domestic vaccination programme.”
Under the legal rules and regulations; for the countries moved to the amber list, passengers must take a COVID-19 test before and after arrival in England. You have to take a Covid test 3 days before you travel. One before day 2 of quarantine at home and one after day 8 of quarantine at home. However, travellers that are precluded to quarantine or taking a day 8 test after arriving in the UK should be either “fully vaccinated in the United Kingdom or under the United Kingdom vaccine programme overseas” or “under 18 on the day you arrive in the country and are a resident of England”
The decision of the UK to ease travel restrictions on India has spread relief amongst the Indian diaspora in England. There were countless demands from Indian students and travellers for easing the norms between India and Britain which have now been heard.
Meanwhile, seven countries moved to the green list – Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania, Norway and France. Passengers from these countries will not have to quarantine regardless of the vaccination status, albeit they have to take a test pre-departure and another test two days post-arrival.
In the recent update, four countries will be placed on the red list:
Georgia, Mexico, Mayotte and La Reunion whereas Pakistan still stays on the red list.
On the other hand, before the U.K. moved India to ‘Amber’ category; India was added to the red list on 23rd April 2021, since then there have been regular grievances from the Indian travellers that have been quarantined in the hotels. The cost of staying at the hotel is exorbitant and above that, the passengers were not happy with the services provided. A constant complaint on the quality of food, ventilation and going as far as being treated like prisoners was mentioned by some passengers staying at the hotel.
Indian student bodies have also complained about the pricing where they cannot afford quarantine fees over their international tuition fees plus flights. The UK relaxes entry restrictions from India has brought huge comfort to everyone who wishes to travel to the UK at the moment. India began the world’s largest vaccination drive back in January 2021 and is vaccinating lakhs of people every day. With the new travel norms of the UK relaxing Covid travel curbs for India, it comes as a great news for Indians, especially people who are fully vaccinated and ready to travel abroad.
As per the health ministry of India, the daily positivity rate is at 2.34 per cent, the weekly positivity is at 2.44 per cent and the recovery rate stands at 97.35 per cent.
