The government has said it will remove Nigeria and 10 other African countries from its travel red list.
The other countries are Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The red list was reintroduced in late November as a precaution after the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
BBC quoted the health secretary Mr. Sajid Javid as saying that the Omicron variant had spread so widely the rules no longer had much purpose.
“Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad,” he told Parliament.
“Whilst we will maintain our temporary testing measures for international travel we will be removing all 11 countries from the travel red list effective from 4am tomorrow morning.”
Currently, all UK arrivals from red list countries must pay for and self-isolate in a pre-booked, government-approved hotel for 10 days.
Some travellers have already paid thousands of pounds to stay in government-approved quarantine hotels, and there have been complaints of chaotic organisation and inedible food during their stays.
Javid said he had asked for urgent advice on whether those currently in managed quarantine would be able to leave early.
He also said he was “very persuaded” by calls to reimburse people and hoped to make an announcement soon.
Recall that the UK had, last week, placed Nigeria on its red list, adding a pre-departure COVID-19 test requirement for all in-bound travellers and arrivals from the country.
The country further placed a temporary suspension on reviewing and issuing visitor visa applications from all red list countries, including Nigeria.
In addition to the new restrictions, travellers who had been in a red list country 10 days before arriving in the UK have been required to quarantine for 10 days in a quarantined hotel and take a COVID-19 test.
