The United Kingdom (UK) says the 11 African countries on its travel red list will be removed from 4 am on Wednesday.
UK’s health secretary, Sajid Javid at the UK parliament on Tuesday. He said the Omicron variant “has spread so widely across the world,” hence the travel red list is now “less effective”.
The UK had in November imposed travel retraction on Nigeria, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Eswatini, and Zimbabwe, due to the discovery of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in South Africa.
The UK government had added Nigeria to the list due to the discovery of COVID Omicron cases in the country.
British citizens and residents travelling from Nigeria to the UK are expected to spend £2,285 on hotel quarantine for ten days to slow the spread of the Omicron variant. They are also required to take either a PCR or a rapid lateral flow test a maximum of 48 hours before departure.
Shapps had said testing measures would be reviewed in the first week of January.
