COVID-19: UK retains 10 days quarantine requirement for travellers from Nigeria

Travellers entering the United Kingdom from Nigeria are still expected to observe 10 days self quarantine and take two post-arrival tests.

Nigeria remains in the amber category in the new guidance released on Friday.

According to the UK department of health and social care, countries are rated as red, amber or green based on their COVID-19 risk levels.

People travelling to the UK who have been in an amber country in the previous 10 days must complete a passenger locator form and take two COVID-19 tests after arrival in England.

On arrival in the UK, the traveller must also quarantine “at home or in the place you are staying for 10 days”.

Travellers may be able to end quarantine early if “you pay for a private COVID-19 test through the ‘Test to Release’ scheme”. The scheme allows a traveller to pay for a private COVID-19 test and if the result is negative, one can end the quarantine.

Travellers who have been in a red country will be expected to quarantine in a managed hotel and take two COVID-19 tests.

Countries on the red list include India, Brazil, Pakistan, South Africa and other nations that have recently witnessed a spike in COVID-19 infections and deaths.

Travellers from green countries will not need to quarantine, and will only be required to take one post-arrival test.

Green countries consist of Portugal, Gibraltar, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, among others.

According to the travel guide, countries are scored against three key categories of genomic surveillance capability, SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk and variant of concern (VOC) transmission risk.

The list of countries and territories in the green, amber and red categories can be found here.