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According to the UK government’s guidance on entering England – Astra Zeneca’s COVISHIELD is now on the country’s list of approved vaccines.

International students who have received the complete course at least 14 days before their arrival in the UK will no longer need to quarantine.

However, there is a catch for Indian students.

Although the AstraZeneca Covishield is now an approved vaccine in the UK, India does not feature on the list of countries where a full course of the vaccine allows students to enter the UK without having to quarantine. This is causing considerable confusion.

Sanam Arora, founder and chairperson of the National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK told The Pie News, “Although they’ve now accepted it as a vaccine, India still has not been moved onto the accepted country list.”

The result, Arora noted, is that “there is fundamentally no change to the situation compared to yesterday, other than the fact that at least they’re recognising the vaccine now.”

So, as the rules now stand, Indian students arriving in the UK for the start of a new term from October 4 and vaccinated with the AstraZeneca Covishield program are still required to quarantine for 10 days.

Arora told The Pie News that many Indian students were under the impression that a full course of Covishield 14 days prior to entering England exempted them from quarantine. “Actually, that’s not the case, not right now anyway. So, we’re having to sit here, send out clarifications to tell people to hold on and wait until some further clarity comes out.

Photo by Guidance from www.gov.uk

She added that there was an urgent need for greater clarity. The current lack of clarification could cause “distress, confusion, misinformation.”