UK Govt To Remove Nigeria From Red List, Says Omicron ‘Has Spread Widely Across The World’

The government of the United Kingdom announced on Tuesday that Nigeria is among the 11 countries that will be removed from its travel red list from 4am on Wednesday.

Affected countries are Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Nigeria was placed on the red list on December 6 after the UK claimed that travelers from the country came in with the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Recall that the UK had on December 5 paused visa applications for Nigerians (non citizens/ residents) who wish to visit while apologizing for the emergency decision.

But UK’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Tueday that the directive was not workable because the variant is already widespread.

“Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad.

“Whilst we will maintain our temporary testing measures for international travel we will be removing all 11 countries from the travel red list effective from 4am tomorrow morning, “ he said to UK lawmakers.

Meanwhile, anyone coming into the country must self-isolate in a government owned hotel.