India allows Q-free entry to fully jabbed travellers from 99 countries

New Delhi: Fully vaccinated travellers from 99 countries, including the US, UK, UAE, Qatar, France and Germany have been exempted from mandatory quarantine on arrival in India, a statement from the Centre said on Monday. Although travellers from the 99 countries have been exempted from mandatory quarantine, they will be required to follow certain norms that remain the same for all travellers.

The decision comes as the country allowed foreign tourists on non-charters planes. India had suspended tourist visas last March and resumed them from October 15 by allowing them in on charters.

The 99 nations are included in the 'Category A' list mentioned in the notification by the Central government. The United States, Great Britain, Israel, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium, Bangladesh, Finland, Croatia, Hungary, Russia, the Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey and Nepal are some of the countries that feature in the list, the statement reads.

India shares an agreement with some of the 99 nations on 'mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccination certificates' of nationally recognised or the WHO recognised vaccines. Some of the countries, which features in 'Category A' list, do not have mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccine agreement with India, but they permit quarantine-free entry in their land to fully vaccinated Indian nationals. Meanwhile, with 10,229 more people testing positive for Coronavirus, India's COVID-19 tally rose to 3,44,47,536 out of which 3,38,49,785 people have recuperated, while the active cases have declined to 1,34,096, the lowest in 523 days, according to the Union Health ministry's data updated on Monday.

A decrease of 1,822 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, it said. The death toll reached 4,63,655 with 125 new fatalities that include 65 from Kerala and 18 from Maharashtra, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.35 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 112.34 crore.