The United Kingdom has added Nigeria to its red list category as it reinforces travel restrictions in an effort to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

“From 0400 on Monday 6 December, Nigeria will be added to the red list for entering England,” the UK government’s travel advisory on Nigeria said.

Therefore, Nigerians who do not have UK citizenship can no longer travel to the country until the advisory is reviewed.

The rule applies to even fully vaccinated persons.

“Over the recent days we have learnt of a significant number of growing cases linked to travel with Nigeria,” UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid said, as reported by the BBC on Saturday.

“There are 27 cases already in England and that’s growing and Nigeria now is second only to South Africa in terms of linked cases to Omicron.”

Nigeria reported its first number of cases of the Omicron virus on Wednesday.