'Racist, Biased': Indians Slam New UK Travel Restrictions As It Opens Up For Flyers
The latest changes in the UK government¡¯s Covid-19-related travel restrictions have upset the Indian flyers who have got both doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine but will still be considered ¡°unvaccinated¡± and will have to undergo 10 days of quarantine.
The new travel rules have been blasted as "offensive" "bizarre" and "racist".The restrictions mean people vaccinated in India will still have to home quarantine for 10 days in the UK when those vaccinated in scores of other countries will not.
What are the new rules?
The new rules, which were unveiled on Friday and will become effective from October 4, were described by the UK as an attempt to change the current ¡°red, amber, green traffic light system¡± to a single red list of countries and ¡°simplified travel measures¡± for arrivals from around the world.
Under these rules, only people who have got both shots of a double-dose vaccine such as Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna or the single shot Janssen vaccine ¡°under an approved vaccination program in the UK, Europe, US or UK vaccine programme overseas¡± will be considered fully vaccinated.
Who will be affected?
The change in UK rules is said to mostly affect students, who are now returning in large numbers to British universities or travelling to Britain to start new courses. The change will mean they will have to pay extra for more tests and to quarantine.
What are Indians saying?
Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh tweeted: "Absolutely bizarre considering Covishield was originally developed in the UK and the Serum Institute, Pune has supplied to that country too! This smacks of racism."
Aware of the backlash on social media after senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor pulled out of a Cambridge Union debate and his own book launch events in Britain to protest against the latest curbs, the UK announced it was willing to engage with the Indian government to resolve the matter. Tharoor tweeted: "It is offensive to ask fully vaccinated Indians to quarantine."
Others on Twitter reacted too? ??
Are those vaccinated in other nations restricted too?
The rules also consider who have received jabs under public health bodies in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei,Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea or Taiwan as fully vaccinated.
Besides India, several other countries are upset by the change in the UK¡¯s travel restrictions, including countries in Africa, South America and West Asia that have been using the Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines that are also used in Britain.
