Fully vaccinated individuals from select nations exempted from RT-PCR before flying to India

New Delhi, Feb 10 (Bureau) Fully vaccinated people from select countries are exempted from producing negative RT-PCR reports before boarding flights to India on a reciprocal basis, according to revised guidelines for international travel the Centre issued on Thursday. Travellers from the select 82 countries will also be provided relaxation in their quarantine, it said.

“On the basis of reciprocity, the travellers from only such Countries which provide quarantine-free entry to Indians will be allowed for relaxation under Certificate of completing full primary vaccination schedule of COVID-19 vaccination,” the guidelines issued on the website of the Union Health Ministry stated. According to the ministry, such countries are those which have an agreement with India on mutual recognition of vaccination certificates of nationally recognised or WHO recognised vaccines and also those which presently do not have such an agreement with India, but they provide quarantine-free entry to fully vaccinated Indian citizens.

The previous guideline had mandated the production of a negative RT-PCR report no less than 3 days before the date of journey for India. Meanwhile, the Centre has replaced the post-travel quarantine with a monitoring period in the revised guidelines. The travellers will no longer have to quarantine at home for a week but need to self-monitor for 14 days. Also, the demarcation of countries as ‘at risk’ and other classifications has been removed. Accordingly, the need to give samples on the port of arrival and waiting till the result is obtained from ‘at risk’ countries has been dispensed with, Union Health Secretary Lav Agrawal informed in a press briefing today.