India's COVID vaccine certificate now valid in 30 more countries

New Delhi: More than 30 global countries, apart from Britain, have now agreed to recognise India's Covid-19 vaccine certificate mutually, PTI reported. Officials said on Thursday that countries include France, Germany, Nepal, Belarus, Lebanon, Armenia, Ukraine, Belgium, Hungary, and Serbia have agreed to the mutual recognition of India's covid vaccine certificate.

This happened days after the UK government decided to quash the requirement of mandatory quarantine for vaccinated Indian passengers after India expressed its displeasure regarding the requirement.

But travellers from a few countries, including South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China and some European nations, will have to follow additional measures in addition to the mandatory Covid-19 protocols when they come to India. For these travellers, a covid test post-arrival in the country and screening is also needed, the officials told PTI.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had announced last week that the latest additions to the list of countries who agreed mutually recognise India's Covid-19 vaccination certificate were Hungary and Serbia. The MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the recognition of the vaccination certificates would help people to move across countries for education, business, tourism, and other things,

In the meantime, India administered more than 27 lakh vaccine doses on Thursday, the cumulative number of jabs reaching 97 crores so far. The union health ministry said that the daily vaccination count is expected to increase. It also noted that the vaccine drive is being regularly reviewed and monitored.