London: As India moves from the UK’s Red List of Travel Prices to the Amber List of Travel Permits, there will be a number of concessions to the Quarantine Act. The decision to put India on the amber list will take effect from 4 am on Sunday, the eighth of this month. Until then, the current red list restrictions, including hotel quarantine, will continue. .
Travel to and from India will be allowed from Sunday morning, when the decision to list Amber will take effect, but there will be a directive to avoid unnecessary travel. Once India is on the green list, it will be allowed to travel freely in both directions. But the current shift to the amber list could be of great benefit to those waiting to go home for essentials. The new decision will also allow those who were stranded in the country before being redlisted to return without a hotel quarantine.
India, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and France were removed from the red list and amber list yesterday. Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway were also placed on the Green List. Georgia, Mexico, La Re-Union and Mayota were also added to the red list.
With the amber listing of the Middle East, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, airlines such as Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and Gulf Air will launch more flights from the UK. This will further facilitate the journey of Indians to their homeland. Air India, which currently operates only 15 services a week, will also launch more services in the wake of the new decision.
The quarantine restrictions on the amber list are twofold. Those who have received two doses of the vaccine from the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, and those under the age of 18 do not need quarantine. They do not have to undergo the eighth day RTPCR test.
People from other countries who have been vaccinated as part of the UK Approved Vaccine Trail will also be on the list of those who do not need quarantine. However, they should have taken the second dose 14 days before the trip. They will not miss the second day’s Test.
The quarantine law is different for those who have not been vaccinated and for those who have received only one dose of the vaccine. They must be subject to a ten-day home quarantine. In addition, the Kovid must be tested and a negative certificate must be obtained within three days of the trip. The Kovid test, which must be done on the second and eighth day upon arrival in the UK, must be booked in advance. Also fill out the Passenger Locator form on the website gov.uk.
Kovid Negative Certificate is still mandatory for travel from UK to India. Vaccination records should also be kept. You have to register on the Central Government’s Air Facility website and submit a self declaration. In addition to these, each state must comply with quarantine laws and airport self-reporting laws. No one should rush into the amber list thinking that they can be sent back home immediately.
On February 15, Britain introduced a system of categorizing countries into traffic lights, green, yellow, and red, according to the extent of the coveted spread. Thirty countries were the first to make the red list. With the outbreak of Kovid, India and neighboring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were on the red list.
Countries are divided into different colors according to the advice given by the Joint Biosecurity Center, taking into account the Kovid situation in each country. The decision to move India from the Red List to the Amber List was taken at a review held on Wednesday.
India had intensified diplomatic pressure on Britain to remove it from the Red List. The Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and representatives of the Ministry of External Affairs met with senior British ministers last week to brief them on the situation in India.
English Summary: UK relaxes Covid travel curbs for India, institutional quarantine exempted
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