The UK government announced on Saturday that all incoming visitors to England will now be obligated to take a pre-departure COVID test, and Nigeria was added to the country’s travel ban list.
Sajid Javid, the UK Health Secretary, said the government made the decision because the number of verified Omicron cases in the UK has now reached 160 cases.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Social Care announced that 27 Omicron cases linked to Nigerian travel had been detected in the last few days. Mr. Javid stated that this number kept increasing.
“There are 27 cases already in England and that’s growing. Nigeria now is second only to South Africa in terms of linked cases to Omicron,” he said.
Mr. Javid also said that Nigeria will be added to the red list of nations from which visitors must stay in a hotel for ten days before entering the country.
The UK Health and Security Agency provided the data that triggered the regulatory revisions. It was discovered that after being infected with Omicron, symptoms emerge sooner than with other variations.
Anyone traveling to the UK from a country not on the red list, despite vaccination status, will be forced to take a pre-departure test starting Tuesday.
“Given the reduced incubation period of the Omicron variant, passengers are advised to take the pre-departure test as close as possible to their scheduled departure to the UK and no earlier than 48 hours before travelling,” said the UK’s health ministry.
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