The British government has announced that following the 21 recent cases of the dreaded coronavirus (COVID-19) variant B.1.1.529 better known as Omicron linked to travel from Nigeria, from 4:00a.m. on Monday December 6, 2021, Nigeria will be added to the red list for international travel to England.
This information, which was published on the UK government’s website, means that Nigeria will be joining several southern African countries which were put on the red list after the Omicron variant was first detected late last month. It means that only UK citizens and residents will be able to enter the country from Nigeria, and they will have to pay to stay in a quarantine hotel for 10 days.
Britain also said that from 4am on December 6, a temporary travel ban will be introduced for non-UK and non-Irish citizens and residents who’ve been in Nigeria in the previous 10 days, meaning they will be denied entry into the UK.
UK’s health secretary, Sajid Javid, said tests must be taken a maximum of 48 hours before the departure time, to tackle the spread of thenew Omicron variant and the rule applies to all travelers visiting the UK or returning from a holiday, regardless of vaccination status, and will come into force from 4am on Tuesday 7 December. He said Nigeria is “second only to South Africa for cases linked to Omicron and that there are “27 cases already in England and that’s growing.”