Africa-Press – Mozambique. England has removed Mozambique, and ten other countries, from its red list of countries with the highest level of travel restrictions.
On Tuesday, the British Health Minister Sajid Javid announced in the UK parliament the ending of the measures that the government had imposed as it scrambled to block the spread of the Omicron variant that was first identified by scientists in South Africa. As a result, all 11 countries that were on England’s red list will be removed from it at 04.00 on Wednesday.
There is a clear reason for this. Yesterday in the House of Commons, Javid told parliament that it is likely that the number of new Omicron infections in the UK was around 200,000 a day and doubling every two to three days. With such high numbers, it made no sense to have a red list.
Nobody knows where the Omicron variant originated, and by now it has travelled across the globe. Travel bans against southern African countries flew in the face of recommendations by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and looked like an attempt to punish countries which have handled their Covid-19 outbreaks much better than Europe or the US.
Under the new rules, travellers arriving in England will be able to isolate themselves at a place of their choosing rather than at an expensive hotel nominated by the government. If fully vaccinated with a recognised vaccine a traveller is no longer required to quarantine after receiving a negative PCR test taken within two days of arrival.
Due to devolution, the other parts of the UK – Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland – have their own regulations regarding travellers coming from abroad.
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