Fully vaccinated travellers will be required to take pre-departure Covid-19 tests before coming to, or returning to the UK, despite the Transport Secretary warning that such a move could “kill off the travel sector again”.

On Saturday afternoon, the Cabinet’s Covid operations sub-committee signed off on proposals to reintroduce a requirement for all travellers to take tests before coming to the country, coming into force from 4 am on Tuesday, in an attempt to slow down the spread of omicron.

Ministers also agreed to place Nigeria on the travel red list, also from 4 am on Tuesday, requiring arrivals to quarantine for 11 nights in a government-approved hotel at a cost of up to £2,285.

Sajid Javid said: “These are temporary measures. We want to remove them as soon as we possibly can. [Omicron] is growing and we expect many more cases.”

Regarding Nigeria, he added: “We have learnt of a significant number of growing cases linked to travel with Nigeria. There are 27 cases already in England and that’s growing. Nigeria is now second only to South Africa in terms of linked cases to omicron.”

The announcement came as Lord Tyrie, the former head of the competition watchdog, warned that holidaymakers faced a return to “overpriced, unreliable and substandard” PCR tests.

Under the new rule, those coming to the UK will be required to take a PCR or lateral flow test 48 hours before their flight.

The decision to reintroduce pre-departure tests was intended to slow the spread of omicron.

Sources said ministers had acted on the basis of data that suggested patients with the variant become infectious more quickly than those with delta.

The airline industry accused the Government of rushing into the restrictions with insufficient information, following a devastating period for the sector since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: “We don’t know what this is yet and it is premature to hit industry and passengers before we see the full data.

“The red list extension made complete sense – that’s what it’s there for – but we know from experience that blanket restrictions do not stop the importation of variants. It’s already here.

“They’ve now changed their travel advice twice within a week. It’s impossible for anyone to plan.

Last week Mr Shapps said he hoped Britain would not reintroduce pre-departure tests telling Chopper’s Politics Podcast: “Do you want to kill off the travel sector again without knowing that you need to? Or do you want to take the right level of calibrated response?

“This Government thinks we should take a calibrated response, which doesn’t take us right back to the beginning of this [pandemic] … I believe in transport and I don’t want to see a world where we’re always finding excuses to restrict it. Of course, you’ve got to respond responsibly. That’s what I think we’ve done.”

https://tribuneonlineng.com/omicron-variant-uk-places-nigeria-on-red-list/

I was just informed now and been searching for it on Nairaland.
Thanks OP for sharing this news. It's already messing up people's travel plans and the travel industry is agitated already.

It don happen.....

[img]https://c./GOCOGVGzYuQAAAAd/cyril-ramaphosa-laughing.gif[/img]

....Economic warfare

China wasn't quickly blacklisted when it started! Small Omicron now, African countries are red zones!
Pathetic!

Good news from UK, some people don buy market but them never know.

Jostoman:
Good news from UK, some people don buy market but them never know.

[img]https://c./WPF-mjEsllkAAAAi/pfizer-pf.gif[/img]

Red and red na today

Dem even rate Ghana pass us.

UK wey dey suck Nigeria dry, use build their own country na im dey rush ban Nigeria.

If we had leaders with brains, something would have been done to ensure that any western country that bans Nigeria, regrets it. But...we do not.

What we have are empty carcasses in babariga, begging every white person they come across... even albino.

And na dem say westernization is Haram, yet when they see white people, their body go dey sweet dem. Inferiority complex.
Why will they not treat Nigeria like a rag that needs to be kept far away?

The country should be divided...so every progressive region can move forward. And the regressive ones can continue to go backward freely, without dragging us all with them.

AntiBMC:
Dem even rate Ghana pass us.

UK wey dey suck Nigeria dry, use build their own country na im dey rush ban Nigeria.

If we had leaders with brains, something would have been done to ensure that any western country that bans Nigeria, regrets it. But...we do not.

What we have are empty carcasses in babariga, begging every white person they come across... even albino.

And na dem say westernization is Haram, yet when they see white people, their body go dey sweet dem. Inferiority complex.
Why will they not treat Nigeria like a rag that needs to be kept far away?

The country should be divided...so every progressive region can move forward. And the regressive ones can continue to go backward freely, without dragging us all with them.

Please calm down. They gave a valid and logical reason for what they did. No need for all this your emotional diatribe.

“We have learnt of a significant number of growing cases linked to travel with Nigeria. There are 27 cases already in England and that’s growing. Nigeria is now second only to South Africa in terms of linked cases to omicron.”

AntiBMC:
Dem even rate Ghana pass us.

UK wey dey suck Nigeria dry, use build their own country na im dey rush ban Nigeria.

If we had leaders with brains, something would have been done to ensure that any western country that bans Nigeria, regrets it. But...we do not.

What we have are empty carcasses in babariga, begging every white person they come across... even albino.

And na dem say westernization is Haram, yet when they see white people, their body go dey sweet dem. Inferiority complex.
Why will they not treat Nigeria like a rag that needs to be kept far away?

The country should be divided...so every progressive region can move forward. And the regressive ones can continue to go backward freely, without dragging us all with them.

Mumurist Wailers like you are the problem, you refuse to take the jab in your oblivious ignorance, then choose to forge documents claiming you have been vaccinated, Then as usual your modus operandai, blame others for your own criminality?

Hell no! This is terribly disrupting. Africans don't have issues covid. It is malaria, typhoid, and hunger that are killing them. Hell no! This can't be happening. The worse is asking people to pay exorbitantly for isolation in hotels when they can conveniently isolate in their homes. It is a scam.

Red list kill them there. Conspiracy theory

Dsalvo:


Please calm down. They gave a valid and logical reason for what they did. No need for all this your emotional diatribe.

When the Covid-19 first broke out in China, they were not quick to ban travellers from there like they are banning Africans now. There's nothing emotional about any of this... im simply stating facts.