Report: UK to lift travel bans — and replace with testing for the fully vaccinated

The United Kingdom will scrap the travel red list this week.

According to Daily Mail, Grant Shapps, the UK transport secretary, convinced the government that the red list should be replaced with testing for the fully vaccinated. The move is expected to be approved this week.

At Wednesday’s COVID briefing, Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, also promised to re-examine the policy amid claims it was unfair and ineffective. 

The South Africa National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) on November 25 announced the detection of 22 positive cases of the new Omicron variant.

Following the discovery, a number of countries banned travel from countries in southern Africa.

The UK placed a temporary ban on air travel from Nigeria and six southern African countries — South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe — with immediate effect to prevent importation of the variant into the country.

In response to the travel ban, the federal government said it will restrict airlines coming from Canada, the UK, and Saudi Arabia from Tuesday.

Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation, who disclosed this on Sunday, said it was to reciprocate the travel ban placed on Nigeria over the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron.

Sirika said the Buhari administration will also place the UK, Canada, and Saudi Arabia on a red list over the outbreak and spread of the Omicron variant.