BREAKING: UK removes Nigeria, others from red list

Respite has come the way of Nigeria and 10 other African countries placed on the red list by the United Kingdom (UK) due to the emergence of the COVID-19 variant, Omicron.

All 11 countries have been dropped from the list, ending the need for travellers to hotel quarantine on their arrival in the UK.

Ministers at Tuesday’s Covid O Cabinet meeting accepted the red list was no longer required to protect the UK from the import of the omicron variant.

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Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe will be removed from the red list at 4am on Wednesday morning. Although the 11 African countries are removed from hotel quarantine, ministers will not abandon the concept of a red list because of concerns it could be needed in the face of any future variants.