Namibians, among other nationalities, will no longer be required to self-isolate or conduct a pre-departure COVID-19 test as a requirement for vaccinated travellers entering the United Kingdom (UK).
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday the scrapping of the regulation with effect from Friday this week.
“From 4am, 7 Jan, eligible fully vaccinated people traveling to England won’t have to take a pre-departure test or self-isolate on arrival,†he said.
“The pre-departure hurdle discourages many from traveling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense,” Johnson said.
A lateral-flow test must, however, still be taken within two days of entering the UK, but the requirement for a more-costly PCR assessment will be eliminated with effect from Sunday 9 January, 2022.
UK testing requirements were introduced in response to the omicron COVID-19 variant which had been labelled by the World Health Organization as a ‘variant of concern’ which poses a “very high” global risk.
The development also saw the UK adding 11 African countries, including Namibia to its “red listâ€.
The easing of border rules introduced to slow the spread of Omicron will bring some relief to carriers after air travel was negatively affected.
While governments have introduced a slew of restrictions, evidence is growing that the now-dominant variant produces milder symptoms than earlier coronavirus waves.
The UK will now revert to travel rules that were in place in October.
