Nigeria has been added to the United Kingdom’s red list, as the country tightens travel restrictions in an effort to stem the spread of the COVID-19 variant Omicron.
“From 0400 on Monday 6 December, Nigeria will be added to the red list for entering England,” the UK government’s travel advisory on Nigeria said.
Therefore, Nigerians who do not have British citizenship or a valid residence permit are unable to travel to the UK until the advisory is revised.
Even fully vaccinated people are subject to the rule.
“Over the recent days we have learnt of a significant number of growing cases linked to travel with Nigeria,” UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said, as reported by the BBC on Saturday.
“There are 27 cases already in England and that’s growing and Nigeria now is second only to South Africa in terms of linked cases to Omicron.”
On Wednesday, Nigeria became the first country to report cases of the Omicron variant.