Faith Nyasuguta
The UK has removed all 11 African nations from its red list, a list that severely restricted travel between those states and the UK.
Previously, only British or Irish nationals or those with residency in the UK could re-enter the country.
The restrictions were enforced last month in a bid to slow down the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
A number of critics had dubbed the move as racist since only African countries appeared on the red list.
Previously, all the countries in the list were from Southern Africa including South Africa and Botswana, where Omicron was first identified. Nigeria was later added to the list.
The 11 nations affected are:
Angola
Botswana
Eswatini
Lesotho
Malawi
Mozambique
Namibia
Nigeria
South Africa
Zambia
Zimbabwe
The restrictions were lifted early Wednesday morning.
“Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the country the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad,” Health Minister Sajid Javid told the UK’s parliament.
Recent Comments