Covishield added to UK travel advisory

London: The UK government on Wednesday issued an updated international travel advisory to include AstraZeneca Covishield among the eligible Covid-19 vaccine formulations but kept India out of the 17 countries on an approved vaccinations list, requiring Indians to follow rules set out for non-vaccinated travellers.

Under new international travel norms that come in force for England from October 4, India is not yet on a list of 17 countries on an approved vaccinations list and therefore not exempt from quarantine rules.

There was widespread condemnation of the Serum Institute of India manufactured Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine, Covishield, not being covered under the reviewed international travel norms and fully vaccinated travellers from India being subjected to the compulsory 10-day quarantine in line with non-vaccinated travellers.

"We are engaging with the government of India to explore how we could expand UK recognition of vaccine certification to people vaccinated by a relevant public health body in India," a British High Commission spokesperson said on Wednesday.

"The UK is committed to opening up international travel again as soon as is practicable and this announcement is a further step to enable people to travel more freely again, in a safe and sustainable way, while protecting public health," the spokesperson said.

It came amid much confusion over the process for Indian travellers as the advisory states: "Formulations of the 4 listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines."

However, the UK government officials have indicated that Indian travellers to the UK must follow the "non-vaccinated rules", which means Indian passengers must take a Covid test three days before departure and book in advance for two Covid tests to be taken upon arrival in England.

On arrival in England, the passengers must self-isolate in the place they have confirmed on their passenger locator form for 10 days. A privately paid-for "Test to Release" option does exist at day five, which allows an early end to the 10-day quarantine with a negative PCR test.

These rules are effectively unchanged from India's current amber list status, even though from October 4 England's traffic light system of red, amber and green countries based on levels of Covid-19 risk is to be officially scrapped.