The government has announced that the eleven countries will be removed from the UK’s red travel list starting at 4 a.m. on Wednesday.
The list includes Angola, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
As a precaution, the red list was reintroduced at the end of November after the appearance of the Omicron variant.
But Health Minister Sajid Javid said it had become so widespread that the rules are no longer of much use.
“Now that there is a community broadcast of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has grown so much around the world, the travel redlist is now less effective in slowing Omicron’s foray from there. ‘Foreigners’, ”he told Parliament.
“While we are maintaining our temporary test measures for international travel, we will remove the 11 countries from the red travel list starting tomorrow morning at 4:00 am.”
Currently, all arrivals to the UK from Red List countries must pay and isolate themselves for 10 days in a pre-booked and government approved hotel.
You must also pass COVID tests within 48 hours of leaving the UK and PCR tests within two days of arrival.
Some newcomers have already paid thousands of pounds to stay in government-approved quarantine hotels and there have been complaints of chaotic organization and inedible food during their stays.
Mr Javid said he had sought urgent advice on whether people currently in managed quarantine could leave earlier.
He also said he was “very confident” of the calls for reimbursement and hoped to make an announcement soon..
The purpose of adding countries to the Red List was to act quickly to slow the spread of Omicron.
Now that it has caught on in the community, the government doesn’t think it makes sense to put people from a limited list of countries in hotels.
This is good news for people who are considering coming to the UK from countries like South Africa and Nigeria or have delayed their return from these countries.
(With the participation of the agencies)
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