'Discriminatory': India on UK quarantine policy

New Delhi, Sep 21: India on Tuesday termed the UK vaccine policy mandating quarantine even for fully vaccinated Indians a "discriminatory policy" and added that the country has used vaccines made in India for their own health system.

"The non-recogition of Covishield is a discriminating policy and impacts our citizens travelling to the UK. The EAM has raised the issue strongly with the new UK foreign secretary. I am told that certain assurances have been given that this issue will be resolved," said Foreign Secretary HV Shringla.

"The basic issue is that the vaccine called Covishield, of which the original manufacturer, is in the UK. We have provided 5 million vaccine doses to the UK at their request. This has been used by their health system," he added.

S Jaishankar urged for an "early resolution" of the COVID-19 quarantine issue and discussed the situation in Afghanistan and the developments in the Indo-Pacific during his meeting with the newly appointed British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss.

"Pleased to meet new UK Foreign Secretary @trussliz. Discussed the progress of Roadmap 2030. Appreciated her contribution on the trade side. Exchanged views on developments in Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific. Urged early resolution of quarantine issue in mutual interest," Jaishankar tweeted.

According to new rules, Indian travellers who have received both doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) will be considered unvaccinated and will have to undergo self-isolation for 10 days.

From October 4, the current "traffic light system" of red, amber, green countries based on levels of COVID-19 risk will be replaced by one red list of countries.