Hope for SA travellers: UK ‘likely’ to scrap red list – possibly before Christmas

South Africa’s present for detecting a potentially dangerous COVID-19 variant wasn’t exactly in the spirit of Christmas. When our top scientists revealed what Omicron was up to, we were rewarded with closed borders and a place on the UK’s tedious ‘travel red list’. However, the absurdity of punishing Mzansi is now dawning on some politicians.

A Christmas gift? Britain looks to remove travel restrictions as Omicron spreads

Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary for Britain, told Parliament on Wednesday that it’s likely ‘all travel restrictions’ will be SCRAPPED in the near future, due to how Omicron has spread across the world.

The UK’s flawed attempt to shut the new mutation by putting South Africa on the red list out has ultimately failed, with Omicron now popping up all over the country.

At first, medical experts were worried this highly-developed strain could evade vaccines and cause more serious illness. However, early evidence suggests neither of the fears will be realised.

Preliminary findings show that jabs still protect against serious illness, and a third booster shot can help increase your antibody coverage 25-fold – and that will largely neutralise Omicron at the point of infection. Meanwhile, a broad consensus is building in Mzansi, to suggest that an overwhelming number of new infections are ‘mild’.

When will South Africa come off the UK red list?

With the facts staring the UK government right in the face, it perhaps comes as no surprise that Sajid Javid is ready to roll back the restrictions. Once Omicron is officially declared the ‘dominant’ variant in Blighty, the need for travel restrictions – of any kind – will fade significantly.

• The next review date for the UK’s travel laws (including the red list) is on Monday 20 December.

“It is just not possible to give a guarantee for any particular country that there will not potentially be any future measures. But soon, in the days and weeks that lie ahead, if, as I think is likely, we see many more infections and this variant becomes the dominant variant, there will be less need to have any kind of travel restrictions at all.”

Sajid Javid