The UK government will remove all 11 countries from its Covid-19 'red list', ending travel quarantine measures imposed to combat the spread of the Omicron variant.
The government announced this afternoon that all countries will be removed from the red list from 04:00 GMT on 15 December, after it was reimposed in late November soon after the Omicron variant was detected in South Africa. Only UK and Irish nationals travelling from the 11 countries are allowed entry to the UK under the red list restrictions, with compulsory quarantine at government-approved hotels for 10 days at travellers' own expense.
Transport minister Grant Shapps said all current testing measures for travellers remain in place and will be reviewed in the first week of January. He also left the option open for new restrictions if necessary, saying "we keep all our travel measures under review and we may impose new restrictions should there be a need to do so to protect public health."
Crude and oil product prices dropped sharply on 26 November as countries around the world reimposed travel restrictions in reaction to the Omicron variant, raising fears around oil demand levels. The Ice front-month Brent contract was down by 11.6pc to $72.72/bl at settlement that day, and Nymex front month crude was down by 13.1pc to $68.15/bl. But prices recovered somewhat since as initial fears around demand eased, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) criticised travel restrictions imposed on Africa last week, saying "With Omicron now present in nearly 60 countries globally, travel bans that mainly target African countries are hard to justify," and would cause economic hardship.
Separately, US pharmaceuticals company Pfizer said today that early testing of its new oral Covid-19 anti-viral treatment confirmed "robust efficacy" in reducing risk of deaths or hospitalisations. The firm said results from the use of its paxlovid tablets on 2,246 "high-risk" adults were consistent with the interim analysis announced in November. They showed paxlovid reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death for any cause by 89pc compared with placebo in patients with the coronavirus treated within three days of symptom onset. And paxlovid reduced the risk of hospitalisation or death for any cause by 88pc compared with placebo in patients treated within five days of symptom onset, up from the 85pc observed in the interim analysis.
