The Indian hockey team have pulled out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, citing concerns over the mandatory 10-day quarantine rule imposed by the United Kingdom as part of its recently-revised international travel SOP on tavellers from India.
The new rules do not recognise fully vaccinated Indian travellers, despite India-made Covishield being among its listed globally eligible vaccine formulations.
Last week, the Indian government announced that travellers arriving in India from the UK will have to undergo mandatory quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated. This follows a similar measure taken by the UK government where it initially refused to recognize the Indian-manufactured Covishield vaccine and now the CoWIN certificate, insisting that Indian citizens if vaccinated with Covishield must undergo quarantine on arrival in the UK.
The UK’s new system covers over 50 countries, including the US and European Union (EU) member-nation plus 18 others such as Canada, Japan and the UAE. Travellers from these countries can now travel to England without needing to complete a pre-departure test, a day eight test or enter a 10-day self-isolation period.