The United Kingdom government has announced that Nigeria and 10 other countries placed on a “red list” over the Omicron COVID-19 variant will be removed.
Sajid Javid, UK Health Secretary, told the House of Commons on Tuesday that the red list will be scrapped, effective 4am on 15 December.
However, Javid explained to parliament that since the Omicron variant is already at the community transmission stage, the red list restricting travellers from certain countries is no longer effective.
He said: “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.”
The Health Secretary, however, insisted that new arrivals into the country must take COVID tests within 48 hours of setting off for the UK and PCR tests within two days of their arrival.
Javid said he had asked for urgent advice on whether those currently in managed quarantine would be able to leave early.
He also said he was “very persuaded” by calls to reimburse people and hoped to make an announcement soon.
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