Travel curbs: UK moves India from 'red' to 'amber' list
London, Aug 5: Fully vaccinated passengers from India will no longer be subjected to compulsory 10-day hotel quarantine as the UK moved the country from its "red" to "amber" list.
Under Britain's traffic light system for international travel, returning from amber list countries means a 10-day quarantine at home.
The change, announced by the Department for Transport, comes into effect from 4 am local time on Sunday.
"The UAE, Qatar, India and Bahrain will be moved from the red list to the amber list. All changes come into effect Sun 8th August at 4 am," UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tweeted.
"While it's right we continue our cautious approach, it's great news to open more destinations for people wanting to connect with families, friends and businesses across the globe, all thanks to our successful domestic vaccination programme," he said.
The decision has come as a relief for the Indian diaspora in the UK, who had been demanding the easing of travel norms between India and Britain.
Under the legal rules for countries on the amber list, passengers must take a COVID test three days before departure and book in advance for two COVID tests to be taken upon arrival in England as well as complete a passenger locator form on arrival.
On arrival in England, passengers must quarantine at home or in the place they have confirmed as their location for 10 days and take a COVID-19 test on or before day two and on or after day eight.
Under-18 and those fully vaccinated in the UK are exempt from the home quarantine, as well as those who have received two doses of Covid vaccine in the EU and US.
Also exempt are those fully vaccinated in the UK or under the UK vaccine programme overseas; under 18 on the day you arrive in England and resident in the UK or in a country with a vaccination programme approved by the UK and part of a UK-approved vaccine trial .
Covishield, the India-manufactured Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, is likely to be covered under this exemption.
The update of the travel list came alongside an announcement that the cost for solo travellers from destinations still on the red list staying at a quarantine hotel will go up from August 12, from 1,750 pounds to 2,285 pounds.
The charge for an additional adult sharing a room will increase from 650 pounds to 1,430 pounds.
According to the government, this is to "better reflect the increased costs involved".
Meanwhile, seven countries are moving to the green list Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway and France has been moved off the amber watchlist .
For countries on the green list, people will not have to quarantine when returning from these nations, regardless of their vaccination status, although they will have to take a pre-departure test and another one two days after arrival.
Four countries will be put on the red list: Mexico, Georgia, La Reunion and Mayotte.
The green watchlist , which gives travellers notice of countries whose green status is at risk of changing, remains in place and is unchanged with 16 countries on the list.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
