Omicron: UK residents travelling from Nigeria to pay £2,285 for 10-day quarantine

British citizens and residents travelling from Nigeria to the UK are expected to spend £2,285 on hotel quarantine for 10 days.

The development is as a result of Nigeria’s inclusion on the UK travel red list on Saturday, following the reported discovery of Omicron cases in the UK which were “linked to Nigeria”.

“The government has decided to add Nigeria to the travel red list and that will be effective from 4am on Monday. This will mean that only UK residents or citizens of the UK can enter the UK from Nigeria from that point onwards, and they would have to quarantine in one of the relevant hotels,” Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, said on Saturday.

Aside from Nigeria, other African countries including South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe have been put on the UK travel red list.

According to the UK guidance on quarantine arrangements for persons who are travelling in from countries on the red list, British citizens or residents coming in from Nigeria are required to quarantine for 10 days on arrival at a government-approved hotel at a cost of £2,285 for an adult.

There is an “additional rate for 1 adult (or child over 11)” at £1,430, while an “additional rate for a child aged 5 to 11” is £325.

Quarantine costs do not apply to children under five.

However, the UK says it will consider an arrangement for persons who have financial challenges.

“The price includes: transport to and from your quarantine hotel; accommodation, food and drink for the whole of your stay; any COVID-19 tests you need to take while you quarantine,” the guideline reads.

“If you believe you will suffer severe financial hardship if you have to pay the full cost of your managed quarantine or testing fees before you travel, then hardship arrangements may be available to you.”

Meanwhile, a petition by Dalia Elbeih, a UK citizen, to the British parliament seeking to allow fully vaccinated people coming from red list countries to isolate at home had exceeded 78,000 signatures at the time of this report.

“The hotel quarantine is very expensive and non affordable. I believe that there should be an exemption for fully vaccinated people and who had a negative PCR to isolate at their place of residence,” the petition reads.

The petition, which the UK government had responded to on July 6, has a deadline of December 10 and will be considered for debate in the UK parliament if it reaches 100,000 signatures.