Travellers from 99 countries, who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus disease (Covid-19), have been exempted from mandatory quarantine on arrival in India, according to a recently updated notification by the central government. These countries, which include the US, UK, France, Germany and Israel, among others, have been listed under “Category A” in the government notification. Although travellers from these 99 nations have been exempted from mandatory quarantine, they will be required to follow certain norms that remain the same for all travellers.
As many as 99 nations are included in the “Category A” list as mentioned in the notification by the Central government. The United States, Great Britain, Israel, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium, Bangladesh, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Russia, Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey and Nepal are some of the countries that feature in the list.
According to the Centre’s notification, India shares an agreement with some of the 99 nations on “mutual recognition of [Covid-19] vaccination certificates” of nationally recognised or the World Health Organisation (WHO) recognised vaccines. On the other hand, some countries in the “Category A” list though do not have a mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccine agreement with India, they permit quarantine-free entry in their land to fully vaccinated Indian nationals.
The decision to offer some relaxations to Covid-19 protocols for international travellers coming from the 99 countries have been made “on the basis of reciprocity”, the notification explained.
Travellers from the 99 nations must submit a self-declaration of their fully vaccinated status on Air Suvidha portal, and also produce a negative RT-PCR test report conducted within 72 hours before. The passengers also need to submit a declaration related to the authenticity of the RT-PCR report and “will be liable to criminal prosecution, if found otherwise,” the notification stated.