The UK government has confirmed it is scrapping the red list for international travel from 4am tomorrow, Wednesday 15 December.
Announced by health secretary Sajid Javid in the House of Commons today, the move comes in response to the rapid global spread of the omicron coronavirus variant.
Several ministers had suggested in previous days that the list could be scrapped now that the UK has seen widespread cases unrelated to recent travels.
“Now that there is community transmission, the travel red less is less effective,” said Mr Javid.
The recently announced testing requirements, however, will stay in place.
A total of 11 African nations were put on the UK’s formerly empty red list between 29 November and 4 December, including South Africa and Nigeria, with returning travellers given short notice that they would have to pay thousands for hotel quarantine in the UK.
In other news, Amazon is one of the latest retailers to join the PCR testing effort, with its own government-approved £35 PCR kit available for day two and day eight tests.
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