The United Kingdom has also placed a travel restriction to the people of Nigeria due to spreading of Omicron Variant, a Covid-19 virus in the country. This was disclosed by the UK secretary of state for health and social care, also a member of the parliament for Bromsgrove , Savid Javid via his Twitter account.
This decision was made due to the increase in number of Omicron Variant of Coronavirus cases across the world. The United Kingdom is the third country to impose a travel ban on Nigeria.
Last week, Singapore and Canada imposed a travel restrict on Nigeria following the breakout of the new strain of the virus.
The NCDC, on Wednesday announced the presence of the new Covid-19 variant in Nigeria. According to the Director-General of the centre, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, the cases were identified through the genomics sequencing of positive cases from travellers linked to South Africa.
According to UK, Savid Javid stated that :-
In light of the most recent data, we are taking further action to slow the incursion of the Omicron variant. From 4am on Monday, only UK/Irish citizens and residents travelling from Nigeria will be allowed entry and must isolate in a managed quarantine facility.And from 4am on Tuesday, anyone travelling to the UK from countries not on the Red List will be required to take a pre-departure test, regardless of their vaccination status.Vaccines remain our first line of defence— the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones. Please get vaccinated or #GetBoosted as soon as you can.
Additionally, according to the press statement issued on the UK Government website stated that Nigeria will be added among countries on the travel red list on 6 December and people traveling to UK from any country will need to take pre-departure test from 7, December.
"Nigeria to be added to the travel red list from 4am Monday 6 December following 21 cases of Omicron reported in England which are linked to travel from this country, with 134 UK cases now reported in total,” the statement read.
It added that the temporary measures that have been introduced to prevent further Omicron cases from entering the UK, and will be examined at the three-week review point on 20 December.
