Britain is removing all 11 countries from its Covid-19 travel red list as there is now community information about Omicron, Health Secretary Sajid Javid told parliament. The British administration said that the entry of passengers from Southern African countries in its red list was only allowed to citizens of the UK when they quarantine in a hotel to slow down the spread of the Omicron variant.

“Now that there is information of Omicron in the UK and it has spread so quickly in the world, the travel red list is less effective in slowing the spread of Omicron from other countries,” Javid said. But the UK still wants all passengers to take either a PCR or a rapid lateral flow test in a maximum of 48 hours before departure. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said these testing measures would be reviewed in the first week of January. “As always, we will keep all our travel measures under review, and we will set some new restrictions to protect public health,” he tweeted.