Quarantine-free entry in India for vaccinated passengers from Feb 14

India today allowed "quarantine-free" entry to fully-vaccinated passengers from 82 countries, including Bangladesh and Nepal, in a major move to ease curbs on inbound international travellers in the face of a declining number of Covid-19 cases powered by the Omicron variant.

Under the new guidelines, which take effect from February 14, there is no need for mandatory testing on arrival for travellers from "at-risk" countries, the Indian Health Ministry tweeted.

The samples from two percent of the air travellers will be collected after de-boarding and these passengers can leave the airport without waiting for the results of RT-PCR tests, it said.

The passengers will no longer be required to do a seven-day mandatory quarantine, rather will have to monitor their health for 14 days.

The passengers will no longer be required to get tested on the eighth day after their arrival and upload their test results to the government portal.

Travellers will have to upload negative RT-PCR reports taken 72 hours before the journey and alternatively can upload the certificate of completing the full primary vaccination schedule provided from countries on a reciprocal basis.

The new guidelines have also removed the categorisation of countries "at-risk".