Update on UK Travel Ban amid Fight Vs. Omicron
UK – The United Kingdom revealed the reason behind its decision to lift the travel ban on all countries that are on its red list.
The Omicron variant of COVID-19 urged different countries across the globe to heighten the fight against the pandemic. It is more than a year now since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus a pandemic for spreading too fast across nations.
There were several instances when the COVID-19 cases in a country dropped and had another spike again after a while. The pandemic which led to millions of deaths rocked the healthcare systems of some nations.
Currently, countries are on the move to vaccinate a huge part of its population to achieve herd immunity. Several vaccine brands including Sinovac, Sinopharm, Astra Zeneca, Janssen, Moderna, Pfizer, Sputnik V, and Sputnik Lite were developed by the different entities.
However, amid the vaccinations, new variants of COVID-19 continue to emerge. Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the detection of the Omicron variant which was reported as a “heavily mutated” variant of the virus.
Several nations were quick to implement travel restrictions on foreign travelers from countries that recorded Omicron cases. One of these is UK which banned foreign travelers from eleven (11) African countries – Botswana, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, Eswatini, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
However, a community transmission of the Omicron variant was detected in UK. It prompted the government to lift the travel ban on foreign travelers from the red list countries. Based on the report, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that the red list “is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad” now that there is community transmission in the country.
Despite the easing of the travel restrictions, Britain will still require a PCR test or rapid lateral flow test from inbound travelers. It must be taken 48 hours before the departure.
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