Omicron: Why Nigeria dey di travel red list?

Nigeria dey UK travel red list - move wey United Kingdom goment tok say go help slow di spread of di Omicron variant.

But di Nigeria High Commissioner to London, Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola say di travel restrictions na "travel apartheid".

So why Nigeria dey di red list, and e dered list 1y fair?

Wetin be red list?

Nigeria na di latest African kontri to join UK travel red list - wit South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia.

Di only pipo wey dey allowed to enta UK from dis kontris na UK or Irish citizens, or UK residents.

Pipo wey arrive from red list kontris go need to enta hotel quarantine - wit dia own moni - and isolate for 10 days.

Dem dey target dis kontris sake of Omicron variant wey dem first identify for southern Africa.

But di fact say all di kontris wey currently dey di list na from Africa, don dey criticised as "wicked and unfair".

Wetin be criteria for red list?

Di decision to put kontri for dis list dey based on risk assessments from di Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) - one scientific body wey dey advise goment.

Dis assessment include:

Why dem add Nigeria?

Di UK goment tok say dem add Nigeria to di list be say:

Di JBC report summarise informate wey dem use make specific decision for each kontri, but dem neva publish di one for Nigeria.

UK goment statement wey announce Nigeria addition to di red list said "majority" of Omicron variant cases for UK "get clear links to overseas travel from South Africa and Nigeria".

How many Covid cases dey Nigeria?

Reported Covid cases for Nigeria dey far lower compared wit most of Europe, wia dem dey identify around 90 cases a day ova di past week - but testing for Africa dey way below Europe levels.

During di last week of November, Nigeria do about 0.07 tests per 1,000 pipo a day, as dem compare am wit about 14 per 1,000 for UK and about 8 per 1,000 for France.

Nigeria still identify fewer cases per test for week wey enta 2 December dan several oda European kontris plus South Africa wia dem first detect Omicron.

Based on test mata, all kontris dey collect and share data differently and dis dey make am tricky to compare internationally.

UK goment collect data on pipo wey test positive for Covid afta dem arrive UK.

Di latest informate or data wey we get from di beginning of November, wey show percentage of pipo wey test positive afta dem travel from Nigeria dey around 1% - similar to several European kontris.

What about cases of Omicron?

Nigerian Centers for Disease Control (NCDC) don identify only three cases of Omicron for di kontri, all of dem dey linked to travel from South Africa.

Dis na fewer cases dan several European kontris, including UK wia dem don report 336 Omicron cases.

However NCDC data dey five days old, so di numbers fit don go up since.

Genome sequencing - di process wey dem dey use to identify variants of virus - no dey advanced for Nigeria compared wit UK or South Africa, for example.

Dis fit mean say dem no fit effectively tell di extent of di spread of Omicron.

Di genome sequencing wey dem need to identify new variants dey very sophisticated and e rare.

Di Department of Health say for England, 21 Omicron cases get link to travel from Nigeria.

What about vaccination rates?

Kontri vaccination rate na also wetin dem dey consider before restricting travel, although dis na just "contextual information" plus genome sequencing ability and Covid transmission.

Vaccination rates for Africa dey well below di world average.

For Nigeria, as of 5 December, na just 4.8 doses dem don give per 100 people, compared with more than 178 per 100 people for UK.