By Oviri Kelvin
The United Kingdom has delisted Nigeria and ten other countries from her red list of countries restricted from entering the UK territories due to the recent prevalence of the new strain of covid19 virus, omicron.
In the latest review of the risk assessment from the UK health security agency and diminishing concerns of scientists, the British High Commission noted that the removal of Nigeria and ten other territories from the red list takes immediate effect on Wednesday, 15 December, 2021.
According to the statement, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing noted that the resolve by the UK ministers to remove Nigeria from the red list was aided by the data from scientific and public health.
On this recent development, passengers from Nigeria traveling to England will not be mandated to stay in managed quarantine hotels on arrival.
The other countries delisted from the UK’s red list alongside Nigeria include Botswana, Angola, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.
Catriona pinpointed that the rise in omicron cases in the UK and countries around the world has rendered the travel red list less effective in diminishing the prevalence of the variant from abroad and these proactive measures are no longer balanced.
The British High Commissioner added that however, all vaccinated passengers arriving in that country must be subjected to take a pre-departure test two days or less before departure and must take a Polymerase Chain Reaction, PCR, test on or before 2 Days and self-isolate until they receive a negative result.
