British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are to be banned from flying to Nigeria in a tit for tat row over Omicron variant travel restrictions. On Sunday, the Nigerian government announced a reciprocal travel ban against the UK because the British government added Nigeria to its travel ‘Red List’ over Omicron fears.
The reciprocal travel ban will also apply to Argentina, Canada and Saudi Arabia because they have introduced similar restrictions that specifically target Nigeria.
The Omicron variant was first detected in South Africa and Botswana and was, for a brief time, limited to a slew of southern African nations. The variant was quickly detected in West Africa but has since spread to at least 57 countries.
Omicron is believed to be highly transmissible and is likely to become the dominant variant worldwide in record time. Scientists believe the variant will takeover from Delta infections in the UK by mid-December and experts have cast doubt on the effectiveness and current need of crude country-specific travel bans.
The UK has not outright banned flights to and from Nigeria but only British citizens and eligible visa holders are allowed to board flights to Britain. On arrival, travellers are then subjected to detention for 10-days in a government-approved quarantine hotel.
Because flights are banned, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have continued serving Lagos and Abuja.
Nigeria’s aviation minister Hadi Sirika said on Sunday, however, that four countries should be added to a Nigerian travel Red List. Sirika suggested the hastily arranged Red List would be up and running by Tuesday and all airlines from those countries would be barred from flying to Nigeria.
It was suggested that the Red List wasn’t being created over COVID-19 concerns but purely out of reciprocity.
Nigeria was slapped with a Red List travel ban on December 6 despite Omicron infections also spreading rapidly throughout the British community.
The World Health Organisation has heavily criticised country-specific travel bans and has urged all nations to lift crude travel restrictions as quickly as possible. Britain’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid has hinted at possibly lifting Omicron travel bans in the near future but has not confirmed a timeline for easing restrictions.
