Two days after he announced that the UK government will recognise the vaccination status of Indian nationals double jabbed with the Covishield Covid-19 vaccine, British high commissioner to India, Alex Ellis, on Saturday expressed his “delight” at the policy reversal by the Boris Johnson administration, adding that people are “desperate” to travel to India from the United Kingdom.

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“I’m absolutely delighted that the UK government cooperated very well with the Indian government. Now, this enables Indian visitors, vaccinated with recognised vaccines, which include Covishield, to enter the United Kingdom without quarantine. We now have to get people moving between the two countries. People are desperate to come here (India),” Ellis said, according to news agency ANI.

The next step, the high commissioner said, is easing the way for business travellers to come to India, and opening up more flights. “We have to look at each process and, in turn, at each vaccine. We start with the ones recognised by regulators, and that includes Covishield,” Ellis said, when questioned on the possibility of British regulators recognising Covaxin, India’s first indigenous anti-Covid jab.

A major diplomatic row erupted between New Delhi and London after the latter announced that under its new entry rules, Indian nationals arriving in the UK will have to spend 10 days in quarantine even if they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 but not from a vaccine not recognised here, including Covishield. The jab, in reality, is the Indian version of Britain’s Astrazeneca vaccine.

Later, the Johnson administration accepted Covishield, though it did not approve India’s CoWIN-generated vaccine certificates.

In response, New Delhi imposed reciprocal measures. The respective entry norms of both sides came into effect on October 4.

The new travel rules to the United Kingdom will apply from October 11. As a result, India, too, is likely to relax quarantine rules for those arriving from there.