News

England’s Covid travel red list to be cut to a dozen countries

Ministers will slash England’s travel red list to about a dozen countries, but plans for replacing the requirement for a negative PCR test with a lateral flow one to avoid isolation hang in the balance.

Destinations including Brazil, Mexico and South Africa are expected to be moved off the red list on Thursday, meaning passengers returning from them will not have to isolate in a hotel for 11 nights at a cost of more than £2,000.

The move means restrictions at the border will be at their loosest since the third lockdown began nine months ago.

The Foreign Office has also announced it will drastically overhaul its travel advice. Currently, it still issues advice to people not to travel to some non-red list countries for all but essential reasons based on Covid grounds.

This is separate to the health rules which are led by the Department for Transport, but significant because the discrepancy meant that travellers going to non-red list countries were not covered by normal travel insurance and so had to pay substantially more. The FCDO is no longer advising against non-essential travel to 32 countries and territories – including Algeria, Ghana and Malaysia – and will only reimpose it solely for Covid reasons “in exceptional circumstances such as if the local healthcare system is overwhelmed”.

Given the current Covid vaccines have held up against the Delta variant, which is dominant in the UK and increasingly usurping other variants overseas, government insiders are increasingly confident the move to slash the red list is safe.

However, ministers also hoped to be able to announce that PCR tests – which travellers have to test negative with to avoid isolation from non-red list countries if they are fully vaccinated – were being replaced with significantly cheaper lateral flow ones.

A source with knowledge of the discussions said the idea was still “up in the air” and “not settled yet”, sparking fears the change could be delayed until after the October half-term, when many people would be looking to take advantage of relaxed travel rules.

The final decision will be made in a meeting on Thursday morning and is expected to be announced that afternoon. Given health restrictions are a devolved matter, it will be up to the administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to decide whether to follow suit.

Brazil and South Africa have faced the toughest restrictions longer than almost any country, as they were both put on the red list in January owing to fears that the Gamma and Beta variants that were discovered in the two countries respectively were more resistant to vaccines. Pockets of Beta cases sprang up in the UK, but Delta was then imported from India and began to outstrip most other variants owing to its high transmissibility.

There are 54 countries on the red list, which include all of those in mainland South America and southern and eastern Africa. The London-based World Travel and Tourism Council, which represents industry firms, said the sector’s recovery would continue to be “sluggish” owing to policies such as the red list.

The government has been criticised by Tory MPs – including the former prime minister Theresa May – for not unlocking international travel as fast as many other countries. Over the summer, she said it was “incomprehensible” that the UK – being “one of the most heavily vaccinated countries in the world” – was the “most reluctant to give its citizens the freedoms those vaccinations should support”.

Gradual changes have been made to the rules, including most recently the axing of the three-tier traffic light system that graded countries red, amber or green. There is now only a red list, and all other countries that do not feature on it are treated the same. However, there are still different rules for those who are fully inoculated and those who are not, partly in an attempt, government sources have said, to encourage everyone to get both jabs.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said this week: “We are accelerating towards a future where travel continues to reopen safely and remains open for good, and today’s rule changes are good news for families, businesses and the travel sector.

“Our priority remains to protect public health but, with more than eight in 10 people now fully vaccinated, we are able to take these steps to lower the cost of testing and help the sector to continue in its recovery.”

News

Eko bridge repairs: LASG announces 18 weeks traffic diversion

The Lagos State Government has announced that traffic will be diverted away from the Eko Bridge to facilitate emergency repairs by the Federal Ministry of Works.

The Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Oluwaseun Osiyemi, made this known in a statement on Friday, noting that “the traffic diversion will commence on Sept. 16 and will last for 18 weeks.

“The repairs will be carried out in four phases, during which the bridge will be intermittently, fully or partially closed, depending on the work schedule.

“Motorists are advised to use alternative routes during the repairs, but motorists heading to the Island from Funsho Williams Avenue can make use of the service lane at Alaka to connect Costain and access Eko Bridge to continue their journeys.

“Alternatively, motorists heading to the Island can access Costain to connect Eko Bridge to link Apongbon for their destinations.

“Motorists can also connect Apongbon inwards Eko Bridge to link Costain to access Funsho Williams Avenue.”

He added that motorists could also make use of Costain inwards Alaka/Funsho Williams Avenue or alternately go through Apapa Road from Costain and link Oyingbo to access Adekunle to link Third Mainland Bridge for their desired destinations.

“Motorists heading to Surulere are advised to use Costain to link Breweries inwards Abebe Village to connect Eric Moore/Bode Thomas to get to their destinations,” he stated.

Osiyemi assured that the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority officers would be deployed to the rehabilitation areas and alternative routes to minimise travel delays and inconveniences.

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Rivers: Police detain 5 over CDC chairman’s death

The Police Command in Rivers has apprehended five suspects over the alleged killing of Chief Ndidi Livingstone, a former Community Development Committee (CDC) Chairman, Mgbuoshimini, Rumueme, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr Disu Olatunji, told newsmen in Port Harcourt that after the killing, the command launched a nationwide manhunt to apprehend the perpetrators.

It would be recalled that Livingstone was murdered in front of his wife and son during a church service in his community on Jan. 13.

Olatunji said that the FID-Intelligence Response Team and personnel of the command later identified nine suspects, including the mastermind of the killing.

He said that five of the suspects died from gunshot wounds sustained after attempting to resist arrest.

“Peter Chukwu, who masterminded that operation, was tracked down in his hideout in Ibusa, Delta, on April 5. His attempt to resist arrest led to his death,” he said.

The commissioner listed other suspects linked to include, Adebayo Adebayo, 48; Success Oge, 39, Nnamdi Emmanuel, 35, John Lucas, 34, and Sunday Godspower, 33.

Others are, Ifeanyi Nwadike, 30, Chigemezu Anochirimoyeanya, 29, Chimezie Adiele, 29, and Ogolo Promise, 25.

He further said that four of the suspects, Adebayor, Emmanuel, Lucas and Promise, led the police to the gang’s hideout in Aluu Village, where their cache of weapons were recovered.

“While approaching the camp, our personnel came under heavy gunfire from hoodlums suspected to be members of the gang.

“The four suspects attempted to escape during the ambush but were caught in the crossfire, they died in the process.

“There bodies have been deposited at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital morgue for autopsy,” he clarified.

Olatunji said that two AK-47 refiles, two SMG rifles, an assault rifle, a shotgun rifle, a pistol, 10 magazines, and 150 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from the gang.

He said that efforts were ongoing to apprehend other suspects that were linked to the criminal syndicate.

News

Police arrest 9 suspects over communal crisis in Kogi

The Police Command in Kogi State has arrested nine suspects in connection with a communal crisis in Itamah area of Kogi.

The crisis occurred after the assassination of the community traditional ruler, Onu Itamah Job Shagari.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Bethrand Onuoha, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja on Thursday.

The late Chief Job Shagari was on Aug. 12 assassinated by some gunmen who invaded the community.

The traditional ruler’s death had created rift between two families — the Okenyi Abu-Atika and Shagari-Ebijegor, resulting in communal crisis.

But the police said they had arrested nine suspects and they were trailing other suspects.

“What the police are calling for now is for peace to be allowed to reign in Itamah community.

“The destruction done in that community is very unfortunate and uncalled for.

“We want a situation where the aggrieved families should come to round table for dialogue toward finding a lasting solution.

A situation where the community members are involved in an eye for an eye, the whole community will be blind and there won’t be peace there at all,” he said.

Onuoha denied the allegation that the command did not respond to petitions brought before it on arson and hostilities that left some houses and other property razed destroyed.

Mr Akoh Jonah, spokesman of the Okenyi Abu-Atika, claimed that more than 40 houses were burnt during the crisis, alleging that the police arrested 11 members of his family