India on Monday resumed quarantine-free entry for foreign travellers from 99 countries, which have agreed to a mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificates with it, almost 20 months after restrictions were imposed due to COVID-19.
Travellers from these 99 countries, including the US, the UK, France, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands and Russia, which have been listed under "Category A", have to submit a self-declaration form on the Air Suvidha portal (newdelhiairport.in) before the scheduled travel, apart from uploading a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report, according to the revised Guidelines for International Arrivals released by the Union health ministry on November 11.
The RT-PCR test should be conducted within 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey.
Each passenger shall also submit a declaration with respect to the authenticity of the report and will be liable for criminal prosecution, if found otherwise.
There are countries that have agreements with India on a mutual recognition of vaccination certificates of nationally-recognised or World Health Organization-recognised vaccines.
Similarly, there are countries that do not have such an agreement with India, but they exempt the Indian citizens who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with nationally-recognised or WHO-recognised vaccines, the guidelines stated.
On the basis of reciprocity, the travellers from all such countries that provide quarantine-free entry to Indians ("Category A" countries) are allowed certain relaxations on arrival, the guidelines read.