THE United Kingdom will be removing all 11 countries from the travel ‘red list’ from Wednesday.
Britain banned travel from six Southern African countries after South Africa discovered the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
South Africa, along with Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe are on the list.
The decision will take effect from Wednesday at 4am.
“As always, we keep all our travel measures under review and we may impose new restrictions should there be a need to do so to protect public health,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tweeted.
Health Minister Sajid Javid also announced the measure to MPs in parliament as Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeks their backing for his new restrictions to curb the spread of Omicron.
Javid said the travel ban was being lifted because it is “now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad”.
Currently, all UK arrivals from
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