The United Kingdom (UK) has included Nigeria to its Red List of countries whose nationals will be refused entry to its territory on account of the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Nigeria joined other countries on the list which includes Angola, Botswana,eSwatini,Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique,Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In effect, from 4am tomorrow, only British and Irish nationals travelling from Nigeria will be allowed into the UK and must isolate in a government-managed quarantine hotel.
On the other hand, from 4am on Tuesday, anyone travelling to the UK from countries not on the red list will be required to take a pre-departure test a maximum of 48 hours before leaving, regardless of their vaccination.
Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, announced that the government made the decision after receiving new data about the spread of the Omicron variant, which emerged in southern Africa.
“Since we have learned of this new variant, our strategy has been to buy time. We have always said we will act swiftly should new data require it,” he said.
“Over recent days we have learned of a significant number of growing cases linked to travel with Nigeria.
“There are 27 cases already in England and that’s growing. Nigeria now is second only to South Africa in terms of linked cases to Omicron.”
