UK removes Nigeria, others from travel ban list

The UK government has stated that from Wednesday it will remove 11 African countries including Nigeria from its travel ban list, occasioned by the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the other countries to be delisted.

It also suspended the issuance of visitor’s visas to Nigerians looking to come into the UK.

Explaining why the ban is being lifted, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told Parliament that, “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 4:00 am tomorrow morning,” he said.

Currently, all UK arrivals from red list countries must pay for and 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.

Some arrivals have already paid thousands of pounds to stay in government-approved quarantine hotels, and there have been complaints of chaotic organisation and inedible food during their stays.

Mr 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.

The move follows anger from African countries, with the UN describing the ban on non-UK residents entering England as “travel apartheid”.