The United Kingdom has removed Nigeria from its red list of countries from which foreign travellers were denied entry.
Nigeria was added to the list less than two weeks ago after the UK recorded 21 cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 that were recent travellers from the African country.
Consideration of visitor visa applications from Nigeria were suspended, a move that was widely criticised as irrational and discriminatory.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 that the red list will be scrapped entirely, starting 4 am on Wednesday, December 15.
Other countries affected by the latest decision are Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
"Now that there is community transmission of Omicron in the UK and Omicron has spread so widely across the world, the travel red list is now less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad," Javid told Parliament.
It's unclear where or when the Omicron variant first emerged, but it has created a global panic since South African health officials first reported it in late November.
The travel restrictions that have especially targeted African countries have been widely-criticised as discriminatory and hysterical by top regional and global health officials.
Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, last week said it was 'unjust, unfair, punitive, indefensible, and discriminatory' and not based on science.
Canada was the first country to place such travel restrictions on Nigeria, after it detected its first Omicron cases in recent travellers from Nigeria.
Saudi Arabia and Argentina have also imposed similar travel restrictions on travellers from Nigeria over the variant.