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OMICRON: U.K removes Nigeria, others from its red travel list
The United Kingdom has removed Nigeria and ten other countries from its list of countries whose citizens were banned from entering the country.
The British government had placed the ban in November in the wake of the outbreak of the Covid-19 omicron variant.
The UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, disclosed this in his address to Members of Parliament on Tuesday.
The 10 other countries that were initially placed on the list were South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Javid said with the rapid spread of the variant, the Red List has become “less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad.”
He said: “So I can announce today that whilst we’ll maintain our temporary testing measures for international travel, we will be removing all 11 countries from the travel red list effective from 4:00 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday).
READ ALSO: Rich nations could start hoarding COVID-19 vaccines as Omicron spreads -WHO
The UK reintroduced the Red List in late November as a precautionary measure following the emergence of the new variant of concern.
The measure restricted people from the countries placed on the list from entering the UK, an action that drew widespread condemnation around the world.
However, the removal of the 11 countries from the Red List is also coming with a proviso that all UK arrivals from those countries must self-isolate in a pre-booked government-approved hotel for 10 days.
They must also take COVID tests within 48 hours of setting off for the UK and PCR tests within two days of their arrival.
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