UK adds Nigeria to red list over Omicron variant

The United Kingdom has added Nigeria to its red list on an effort to restrict the spread of Omicron, a variant of Coronavirus. 

The UK made the announcement on Saturday, Dec. 4.

“From 0400 on Monday 6 December, Nigeria will be added to the red list for entering England,” the UK government’s travel advisory on Nigeria said.

Following the latest development, all international arrivals to the UK will now be required to take pre-departure COVID-19 tests, the Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, said on Saturday.

UK citizens and residents will be able to enter the country from Nigeria but they will have to pay to stay in a quarantine for 10 days.

“Nigeria is second only to South Africa for cases linked to Omicron,” Javid said.

He added that there are “27 cases already in England and that’s growing”.

Javid also said the measures are “hugely unfortunate” for people who already had travel plans, but insisted that they would be “temporary”.

“We want to remove them as soon as we possibly can,” he added, saying that “vaccines remain our first line of defence”.