Travel News

• Federal Govt accuses travellers of presenting fake test results, dodging tests after entry

• 138 prospective NYSC members test positive for COVID-19, isolated, treated – NCDC

• Global surge: Govt warns against non-essential travels, says travellers may be stranded

BY  Friday Olokor and Adelani Adepegba

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 on Monday said no fewer than 39,070 passengers, who arrived the country did not pay for coronavirus  test.

The Chairman of the PTF, Boss Mustapha, who indicated this at the PTF press conference in Abuja, also disclosed that some travellers presented fake documents on COVID-19 tests and other information.

Pre- and post-arrival tests are two of the protocols for travellers using the country’s airports and the tests are paid for by travellers, who cannot be tested unless they make the payments.

But on Monday, Mustapha said some of those who paid for post-arrival test had failed to show up for the tests.

Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,  said the PTF had been evaluating the compliance of Nigerians with the protocols for testing by in-bound and out-bound travellers.

“It has been discovered that some of these travellers have indulged in presenting fake documents. Some that have paid for post arrival testing have failed to show up for the tests”, Mustapha said.

He said that statistics showed that as of November 9, the total number of bookings was 91,522; total number  of passengers exempted (diplomats and some others), 5,470 (6%); children, 1,248 (1.36 per cent); diplomats, 3,392 (3.7 per cent); and evacuees, 830 (0.9 per cent).

The SGF also said while the total passengers expected to pay were 86,052 (94 per cent), those that paid were 46,982 (54.6 per cent) and those that had not paid were 39,070 (45.45 per cent).

“Travellers that have arrived in-country but have not paid (approximately 39,000). Amount paid to private labs by passengers who have refused to take the post-arrival seven-day test is between N220m andN270m,” he said.

Mustapha said that the PTF was concluding steps to work with relevant institutions and legal authorities to impose appropriate sanctions on those that defaulted on the protocols.

He said that the various guidelines and the testing regime prescribed for in-bound passengers would remain in force.

The SGF said that the PTF still considered it necessary to caution against non-essential trips.

He said, “Ahead of the upsurge in travels for the Christmas and New Year festivities, we urge strongly that for this year, such trips should be put on hold firmly because of the risks involved.

“The transmission rate has simply become astronomical. The PTF similarly finds it necessary to mention that during the Christmas and New Year festivities, large social gatherings should also be avoided because there is a bigger risk of COVID-19 transmission.

“New clusters of cases can emerge in places that have so far been unaffected as people travel and gather for festivities. But we can lower the risks by adhering to the non-pharmaceutical interventions and celebrate, safely. There will always be many more festive seasons to celebrate.”

Mustapha said that the PTF was working with the World Health Organisation and other partners to access vaccines as soon as they are available.

138 prospective NYSC members test positive for COVID-19

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said 138 prospective members of the National Youth Service Corps tested positive for COVID-19.

Ihekweazu said the safe reopening of the NYSC orientation camps across the country was successful.

He stated that none of those who tested positive were allowed into the camps.

“A total of 34,785 corps members and members of the camp communities have been tested so far in the last weeks of which only 138 was found positive, which is 0.4 per cent prevalence and 1 in 200 people,” he said.

Ihekweazu said those who tested positive were either managed at home or in a treatment centre depending on if they had symptoms and what state they were in.

The DG said the next challenge would be how to work with education stakeholders to ensure safe reopening of the universities.

“Universities have proved  to be slightly risky; it has its unique challenges, but we are confident that we can address this as we have done in other sectors like aviation,” Ihekweazu stated.

We may review our policy if figures continue to increase

The National Coordinator of the PTF, Sanni Aliyu, cautioned against non-essential travels and warned that government would not hesitate to review its policy if importation of infections was noticed.

He said, “At the moment, we have a lot of travel restrictions going on in Europe and other places. If numbers continue to increase and we notice importation of infections, we will review our policy.

“I am not saying we will ban flights but I am also saying that we will do everything necessary to protect ourselves from a surge.

“So, if you don’t want to be stranded whether in Nigeria or outside the country, think again about travelling over this period. If it is not essential, stay put. There will be other seasons, there will be other celebrations especially with vaccines now being available across the board it is very likely that travels will be sorted, so all the testing and monitoring will go away.”

Aliyu said the PTF had compiled the list of the first 300 passengers that have not done the test up to day 14.

“We are going to streamline these results and create a COVID-19 restriction list for passengers that have not abided by our protocols and these passengers will not be allowed to fly for a period of six months.

“We hope that we don’t have to continue doing this and people will continue to comply with our protocol,” he said.

FG to inaugurate vaccine task force

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said the government would be inaugurating a task force on vaccine.

He said, “Now that vaccines are known to be close at hand, the Ministry of Health is taking measures towards vaccine security, for which an 18-man National COVID-19 Vaccine Task Team with seven terms of reference will be inaugurated this week.

“The terms of reference will include generating strategies for acquisition, deployment and options for licensed production by Biovaccine Nigeria Limited.

“Our options with WHO/GAVI-led Covax facility remain our first line of engagement.”

Yellow fever kills 10, says minister

The minister also gave an update on the outbreak of Yellow Fever in some states, saying “The reported ‘strange deaths’ in Delta, Enugu, Ebonyi Benue Bauchi and Kogi State have turned out to be Yellow Fever outbreak as confirmed by the NCDC that is responding professionally with rapid response teams to the outbreak.

“Of 586 suspected cases, 40 were confirmed in laboratory tests, with 10 deaths as of last week.”

Lukman Otunuga, a senior research analyst at FXTM, says it is unclear where Nigeria will borrow the N5.2 trillion needed to fund the 2021 budget deficit.

The nation’s stats office announced on Saturday that Nigeria slid into its worst economic recession in almost four decades, following a 3.62 percent contraction in the third quarter of 2020.

Based on lessons from the 2016 recession, the Buhari administration employs expansionary policies to spend its way out of recession — but that may be challenging in 2020 as most lenders are battling the fallout of COVID-19.

Considering the fact that Nigeria recently pulled $3.4 billion, 100 percent of its quota, out of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), getting money from the fund may be challenging.

Asked where Nigeria would get N5.2 trillion in loans to fund the 2021 budget deficit, Otunuga said there is a lot of speculation on that, but no clear direction yet.

Otunuga stated that dollar debt will expose Nigeria and increase the country’s debt-to-GDP.

“Nigeria is set to borrow [N5.2 trillion] in 2021. I think this is an ongoing question many people are asking. Is Nigeria going to issue Eurobonds, are they going to go to the World Bank, are they going to IMF?” he said.

“Things are quite difficult right now, and honestly, these are all speculations. But what I can say is, the fact that Nigeria continues to borrow is going to increase the country’s GDP ratio which remains a major risk because if the debt-to-GDP continues to rise, this is going to make it more difficult for Nigeria to borrow.

“It is going to make the repayments really expensive, and given how most of these loans are going to be in dollars,  the high dollar-denominated debt is gonna expose Nigeria especially if the dollars continue to (appreciate) in 2021.

“I think this is an ongoing question, is it going to be the IMF, World Bank or is it going to be from the issue of Eurobonds, this is mere speculation, we have to see how things play out in 2021.”

Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, told the house committee on finance that the federal government would be borrowing $1.2 billion from Brazil to fund a part of 2021 budget.

This led to a massive outcry among Nigerians, who opposed the plan and said Nigeria may soon borrow from poorer countries like Niger Republic.

It has been over 140 years since the world last witnessed this type of mass recession across the globe, making it difficult for nations to secure funds from their bilateral partners who are also in a recession.

In an interview with TheCable, Bill Gates, the co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, called on Nigeria to prioritize its spending, if borrowing from other countries or institutions becomes a challenge.

The naira-dollar relationship has been at the heart of Nigeria’s economic conversation for decades

Otunuga who spoke on how Nigeria can avoid a prolonged recession, said if oil prices remain depressed as we say in 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) may be forced to devalue the naira again.

He said a free float of the naira will adversely impact consumers in the local economy, suggesting the naira may take a quick and steep fall.

“I think what the CBN is doing is defending the naira based on foreign exchange reserves. I think it is going to get to a stage where foreign exchange reserves are going to deplete below certain level, where it may become increasingly  difficult for the CBN to defend the naira against external and domestic risks.

“The naira’s outlook would be heavy influenced by global price of crude. If oil prices remain depressed like what they are trading right now, and  foreign exchange reserves drops below certain threshold,  the CBN may be forced to devalue naira to accommodate for this.”

Speaking about the sustainability of defending the naira, Otunuga, said if Nigeria deploys a system that “allows the natural forces of supply and demand to really determine the equilibrium value of the naira… nobody knows how quick or how sharp the naira would devalue”.

"Such outcome is probably gonna hit consumers, it is going to result in inflation process really  rising out of control. If we have a case where inflationary pressures ends up hitting consumer purchasing power, allowing the naira to freefloat may actually do more damage than good at this point in time.”

Otunuga called on the CBN to be more transparent about it’s foreign exchange policy. He said the opacity around the FX market is adversely impacting foreign direct investment.

NSE has gained 24% this year

Speaking on the activity of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the forex market analyst, said the bourse has been impressive this year, compared to the rest of the world.

“If you look at the Nigerian Stock Exchange all share index, it is actually up from almost 24 percent YTD, and when we compare it to other stock markets across the world, that’s quite impressive,” he added.

“I think a lot of people are scratching their heads because you see the stock market performing so well, but there is a lot of gloom around Nigeria’s economy. But when we dig deeper into this, you do see a valid point.

“If you look at Nigeria’s fixed income market, it’s actually posting negative yields, something rarely seen in Nigeria and other emerging market. So what is happening is that investors looking for yield are probably banking their cash into the local stock market to get profit in the medium to longer term.

“The reason why the fixed income market is posting negative yields is inflation and interest rates. So, in a short term, Nigeria’s stock market unlikely to push higher based on external factors that are supporting the index.

“In the medium to long term, I think the local shares would be heavily influenced by the nation’s macroeconomic outlook.

“If Nigeria continues to struggle to recover or continues to show signs of being exposed to domestic and external risks, those gains that we saw in the all share index are likely to be capped leading towards 2021.”

Otunuga said as far as the economy is concerened across the globe, the “grass is not necessarily greener at the other side,” stating that the US GDP contracted by over 30 percent in Q2, while South Africa saw a 51 percent contraction in output over the same time.

He said a Joe Biden presidency in the United States could bring an improved, even stronger bilateral relations to Nigeria and the rest of the African continent.

A new temporary rule that could require tourist and business travellers from a dozen African countries, including Nigeria, to pay a bond from $5,000 to $15,000 to visit the United States, will take effect from 24 December.

Other countries whose tourist and business travellers could be subject to the bond requirement are those from Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sudan, Chad, Angola, Burundi, Djibouti and Eritrea.

Afghanistan, Bhutan, Iran, Syria, Laos and Yemen are also listed.

Nigerian travellers will have to pay the bond as some categories of visitors overshot the threshold of 10 percent and above overstaying rate.

Overall, out of 177,835 Nigerians who visited the US in 2019, the overstaying rate was between 9.45-9.88 percent.

A total of 17,566 overstayed. Out of the figure, 764 departed late and 16,802 stayed in the country.

But in other classifications, 11.12 percent of 9,336 Nigerian non-immigrant and exchange visitors overstayed.

Another 13.67 percent of in-scope nonimmigrant visitors also overstayed same year.

The U.S. State Department said the temporary final rule, which takes effect Dec. 24 and runs through June 24, targets countries whose nationals have higher rates of overstaying B-2 visas for tourists and B-1 visas for business travellers.

The Trump administration said the six-month pilot program aims to test the feasibility of collecting such bonds and will serve as a diplomatic deterrence to overstaying the visas.

Trump, who lost a re-election bid earlier this month, made restricting immigration a central part of his four-year term in office.

President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, has pledged to reverse many of the Republican president’s immigration policies, but untangling hundreds of changes could take months or years.

Biden’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment related to the visa bond requirement, Reuters reported.

The visa bond rule will allow U.S. consular officers to require tourist and business travellers from countries whose nationals had an “overstay rate” of 10% or higher in 2019 to pay a refundable bond of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000.

Twenty-four countries meet that criteria, including 15 African countries.

While those nations had higher rates of overstays, they sent relatively few travellers to the United States.

Historically, U.S. consular officers have been discouraged from requiring travellers to the United States to post a bond, with State Department guidance saying processing of the bonds would be “cumbersome,” the temporary rule said.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report on that fiscal year shows the worst offenders were typically from Chad (44.94 percent), Djibouti (37.91 percent), and Mauritania (30.49 percent). In fact, 15 of the 24 countries above 10 percent are in Africa.

But the list also includes Iran at 21.64 percent and Afghanistan at 11.99 percent, as well as Bhutan and Laos.

The DHS report counted more than 422,000 instances of overstays in fiscal year 2019 by business and tourism visitors, including those who came through the Visa Waiver Program and those who did not.

The planned pilot period into June is an effort to discourage overstays and to test a system for collecting the de facto deposits on leaving.

BY  Silvia Amaro

KEY POINTS

• The U.K. government announced that there will be a new quarantine policy from December 15.
• This drove travel stocks higher on Tuesday.
• Travellers will have to pay for their own test.

Passengers arrive at Gatwick Airport, U.K. Dominic Lipinski - PA Images | PA Images | Getty Images

LONDON — Travellers arriving in the U.K. will be able to cut their self-isolation period from 14 to five days starting next month if they test negative for the coronavirus, the British transport chief has said. 

As part of a wider strategy to reopen the economy, the government announced on Monday that there will be a new quarantine policy from December 15. International arrivals will be able to get a Covid-19 test after five days of self-isolation and if the result is negative, they can end their quarantine.

However, travellers will have to pay for their own test, which could cost between £65 ($86) and £120. The results could take up to 48 hours, according to the BBC. 

The U.K.’s compulsory quarantine of 14 days upon arrival has been harshly criticized by airlines and airport operators since the first lockdown was lifted back in May. The travel industry has all but come to a halt in the wake of the coronavirus and its proponents have argued that the quarantine is stopping people from flying into the U.K.

With Covid tests now widely available, the (U.K.) government should remove quarantine.
Ryanair spokesperson

The U.K. government has also prohibited foreign travel, except for work purposes, during its second lockdown, which is due to end on December 2.

“This is certainly a positive step forward for the industry and I think it will help boost consumer confidence, knowing they can book flights for holiday and have a substantially reduced quarantine period versus previously,” Jonathan Pollard, chief commercial officer at Gatwick airport, told CNBC’s Julianna Tatelbaum on Tuesday.

Quarantines are a ‘complete deterrent’

However, he added that “the best way of opening up travel in a more significant scale is to move to pre-departure testing.”

In emailed remarks, EasyJet’s CEO Johan Lundgren welcomed the government’s decision, but also said that “over the longer term we need to move to quicker, cheaper but reliable tests and, where safe to do so, continue to further reduce quarantine periods.”

The quarantine policy is applied to everyone arriving in the U.K. from a country that is not included in a “travel corridor.” This list of countries is updated based on their epidemiological situation.

“With Covid tests now widely available, the (U.K.) government should remove quarantine restrictions and allow citizens to move freely, once they have a negative Covid test 72 hours prior to arrival,” a spokesperson for Ryanair said on Tuesday via email.

We cannot wait for the vaccine to restart air travel, IATA says

Alexandre de Juniac, director-general of the International Air Transport Association, told CNBC on Tuesday that the government’s decision, “goes in the right direction, but we must be conscious of the high negative impact of quarantine.

“When there’s quarantine even if it’s 4, 5 days, it is a complete deterrent to traffic,” he said

However, the government said that, “a test after five days of self-isolation, provides materially better results than just having a test on arrival, as it allows time for the virus, should it be present, to incubate.”

Passengers will have to book the test from a provider on a government’s list before arriving in the U.K. and state that they have done so on their “locator form” — a document that passengers must fill before their arrival in the U.K.

The announcement drove travel stocks higher on Tuesday, with Lufthansa up by 5.9% and International Consolidated Airlines, the owner of British Airways, up by more than 5% in early European trade.

Why your next holiday in Europe will change

Vaccine — a pre-requirement for travel?

In Australia, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce suggested that only people who have been vaccinated for the coronavirus will be allowed to travel abroad with the airline.

“We will ask people to have a vaccination before they can get on the aircraft ... for international visitors coming out and people leaving the country we think that’s a necessity,” he told Nine Network, according to the BBC.

Pfizer and BioNtech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca have announced in recent weeks that their coronavirus vaccines have high efficacy rates and should be available for distribution in the near future. These latest developments have been welcomed by the travel industry, which expects pent-up demand to be translated into more future bookings.

However, the CEO of KLM Pieter Elbers told CNBC it is “too early” to know whether vaccination will become a pre-requirement for international traveling.

“Probably a bit too early to figure out precisely how it works,” he told CNBC’s Capital Connection.

“I think the fact that we do have three vaccines, which should be available before the end of the year or in the first quarter, it’s really good news for the industry,” Elbers added.

BY Karen Gilchrist

Israel has charged past the U.S. and Switzerland to rank as the world’s best place to be a woman entrepreneur, according to a new report released Monday.

The Middle Eastern nation jumped up three places this year to steal the title from New Zealand in the annual Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE).

The four frontrunners were joined in the top 10 for the first time by Poland, Sweden and Spain, which rose rapidly this year to form a geographically varied leading list. The U.K., Canada and Australia rounded out the top 10 as high-income economies fared better for female founders under the pandemic.

Now in its fourth year, MIWE examines the working environments of 58 economies — representing almost 80% of the world’s female labor force — to measure their success in fostering and advancing female entrepreneurship. Drawing on global data from the World Bank and OECD, the study assesses economies across indicators including access to education and financing, as well as other supporting factors.

A top 10 on the move

Leader Israel took pole position for the first time this year thanks to a marked increase in its support for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) — jumping 41 places in this segment alone.

The country has set out bold ambitions to double its number of female entrepreneurs within two years, rolling out targeted funding and networking initiatives to do so.

The U.S. retained second place due to high female business ownership and favorable cultural perceptions. The States ranked highest globally for female entrepreneurship in a separate Female Opportunity Index 2020/21 released last week by digital bank N26.

Switzerland bounded forward eight places to rank third overall, buoyed by a sharp improvement in government-led support for SMEs and a significant uptick in cultural perceptions of entrepreneurialism. Meanwhile, 2019 leader New Zealand dipped to the fourth position, but still ranked highly for factors like high visibility female leaders.

Ranking among the toughest places to be a woman entrepreneur were Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Iran, Egypt, Algeria and Bangladesh — a list little changed from last year.

Covid in focus

This year’s report comes against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, which experts say has disproportionately impacted women.

That has led female founders to look for new ways of working, including tapping into new business opportunities and realigning existing models, the report found.

MoMo Productions | DigitalVision | Getty Images

More than two-fifths (42%) of women business owners shifted to an online business model under the pandemic and over a third (37%) developed an area of business that meets new local or global needs. An additional third (34%) identified new business opportunities because of the virus.

The long-awaited call for governments, institutions, and organisations to close the gender gap has never been more urgent.

Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs

But it has also highlighted the need to create a more inclusive environment for women entrepreneurs as the global economy seeks to get back on track after the pandemic.

“The long-awaited call for governments, institutions, and organizations to close the gender gap has never been more urgent,” the report said.

“Now in the midst of what has been termed the worst global recession since World War II, the need to narrow this gender disparity is even more critical in driving forward an equitable and sustained economic recovery,” it added.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Representative to Nigeria, Oliver Stolpe, yesterday urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts in the fight against human trafficking.

He made the call in Abuja at a workshop for the development of the National Plan of Action on Human Trafficking in Nigeria 2021 - 2025, sponsored by UNODC and the Swizerland Embassy.

He also advised the government to enhance the criminal justice response to the issue of trafficking in persons in Nigeria.

He said though the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons had detected 4,215 victims of trafficking in persons so far, the number of convictions remained comparatively low with 101.

Migration Adviser, Switzerland Embassy in Nigeria, Manuel Muhlebach, said trafficking in persons had been a major cause of human insecurity as it affected the lives of migrants in the most negative ways.

NAPTIP Director-General, Julie Okah-Donli, said the numerous achievements recorded by the agency were due to the 2009 - 2012 National Plan of Action that provided the much needed framework for a coordinated response to human trafficking.

 Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja

NIGERIA plans a review of its  international travel policies  to prevent importation of    Coronavirus  from countries experiencing a rebound.

National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, during a briefing by the task force in Abuja on Monday, said this is to protect Nigerians against a second wave of the disease.

Aliyu said Nigeria would do everything possible to protect its  territory and citizens.

The PTF reiterated the advice that  all non-essential travels be suspended.

Aliyu said: “I want to raise the issue of international travels. As we are aware, we are approaching a very busy season, where we see a surge in passenger travels. The aim of  the PTF over the next few weeks is to discourage travels, especially non-essential ones . We want to reduce the  surge in passenger travels that we see every year around December because  of COVID-19.

“We are actively discouraging non-essential travels. Essential travel is if you have to travel for study, work purposes, humanitarian services, travel to suppprt critical infrastructure, economic services and maintaining supply chain arrangements. Outside this, if you do not need to travel, please stay where you are over this period.

“At the moment, we see  a lot of travel restrictions going on in Europe and other places, if numbers continue to increase and we notice importation of infections, we will review our policy. I am not saying we will ban flights, but I am also saying that we will do everything necessary to protect ourselves from a surge.

“If  you don’t want to be stranded whether in Nigeria or outside the country, think again about traveling over this period. If it is not essential stay put.”

Meanwhile, the PTF said it already has compiled an initial list of 300 violators of COVID-19 travel protocols.

He said such people  failed to do the required travelers’ test, adding that Nigeria would start imposing penalties, including six months travel ban on violators.

According to him, about 60 per cent  of travelers who entered Nigeria,  , failed to turn up to take the required test after making payments..

He said: “We have   the list of the first 300 passengers that have not done the test up to day 14, we are going to streamline these results and create a COVID-19 restriction list for passengers that have not followed  our protocols. These passengers will not be allowed to fly for a period of six months.”

By Chinedu Eze

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released guidance to ensure that the air cargo industry is ready to support the large-scale handling, transport and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine.

IATA said its guidance for vaccine, pharmaceutical logistics and distribution provides recommendations for governments and the logistics supply chain in preparation for what would be the largest and most complex global logistics operation ever undertaken.

Reflecting the complexity of the challenge, the Guidance was produced with the support of a broad range of partners, including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA), International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) , UK Civil Aviation Authority, World Bank, World Customs Organization (WCO) and World Trade Organization (WTO).

The guidance includes a repository of international standards and guidelines related to the transport of vaccines and will be updated regularly as information is made available to the industry. Accompanying the guidance, IATA established a joint information-sharing forum for stakeholders.

"Delivering billions of doses of a vaccine that must be transported and stored in a deep-frozen state to the entire world efficiently will involve hugely complex logistical challenges across the supply chain. While the immediate challenge is the implementation of COVID-19 testing measures to re-open borders without quarantine, we must be prepared for when a vaccine is ready. This guidance material is an important part of those preparations," said IATA's Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac.

BY  Simon Calder

Travellers arriving into the UK will soon be able to reduce quarantine from two weeks to five days, if they test negative for coronavirus with a single rapid test.

At present arrivals from the vast majority of overseas countries must self-isolate at home for 14 days. The mandatory quarantine has been described as “a travel ban in all but name” by senior travel industry figures.

But the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, is set to announce that a new policy will take effect from a date in the first half of December – in time to benefit arrivals for Christmas.

Travellers arriving from any overseas country will still have to complete the online Passenger Locator Form.

Those arriving direct from low-risk locations on the “travel corridor” list, including some Greek, Portuguese and Spanish islands, will continue to avoid quarantine altogether. Others will need to quarantine for five days, but can then pay to take a LAMP test either at home or a testing centre.

While LAMP tests still involve a swab of the upper nose and/or throat, they are faster, easier and cheaper than the PCR tests that are standard in the NHS and specified by some other countries.

LAMP tests are less sensitive than the PCR version. They do not require complex, time-consuming and expensive thermal processing, and are much cheaper – typically half the £150 price of a standard PCR test.

Costs are likely to fall sharply as the number of tests increases – perhaps to £20-£30.

The announcement will be welcomed by the travel industry, which has been devastated by the collapse in demand due to restrictions on movements to overseas countries and returning to the UK.

Paul Charles, chief executive of the travel consultancy, The PC Agency, said: “It’s certainly progress and much better than 14 days, and will lead to more people being prepared to book a trip.”

Targeted quarantine was imposed on arrivals from China, northern Italy and other high-risk destinations early in the year, but abolished by the UK government in mid-March.

Blanket quarantine was imposed on arrivals from all foreign countries except Ireland on 8 June. Since then some nations have been placed on a “travel corridor” list, but this has changed frequently and excludes the vast majority of popular destinations for British holidaymakers.

The Independent understands that in the New Year, travellers may be able to avoid quarantine completely by agreeing to daily “lateral-flow tests” for a week – the same principle as will be applied to people who have been in contact with confirmed cases of Covid-19.

Professor Adam Finn, director of the Bristol Children's Vaccine Centre, told the BBC’s Today programme: “In the research that we’re doing, we’re realising that there are quite a few people who don’t come up positive on the lateral flow test but do have a positive PCR.

“The reason that’s possibly alright is that the positive PCRs a lot of the time don’t really represent an infectious state. They tell you that at some point a person has had the infection.

“A positive result indicates there is a lot of virus,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.

“This could be seen as a test of infectiousness, rather than infection.”

Meanwhile airlines including British Airways, American Airlines and United are running pre-flight testing programmes between the US and the UK, in a bid to demonstrate to the authorities in London and Washington that there is a safe alternative to quarantine on arrival.

BY Sodiq Oyeleke

The United States Mission has said Nigeria is not included in the US’ pilot visa bond programme.

The US Mission in Nigeria made this known in a statement on its website on Tuesday.

The outgoing administration of US President Donald Trump had issued a new temporary rule for African tourists.

The new rule could require tourist and business travellers from some countries, most in Africa, to pay a bond of as much as $15,000 to visit the United States.

The US State Department said the temporary final rule, which takes effect December 24 and runs through June 24, targets countries whose nationals have higher rates of overstaying B-2 visas for tourists and B-1 visas for business travelers.

The statement read, “In response to the April 2019 Presidential Memorandum on Combating High Nonimmigrant Overstay Rates, the Department and our embassies and consulates overseas conducted an in-depth analysis to identify and address root causes of overstays.

“Among other efforts to address this challenge, the State Department is considering additional steps to address overstays, including piloting a limited visa bonds program to test, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, the operational feasibility of posting, processing, and discharging visa bonds as means to ensure the timely departure from the United States of certain travelers.

“Accordingly, the State Department will begin a limited six-month visa bond pilot program beginning on December 24, 2020.

“We are committed to combating visa overstays and making sure travelers to the United States respect our laws.

“The implementation of this pilot builds on our engagement with foreign governments in recent years and will ensure continued progress to reduce overstay rates. Nigeria is not included in this six months pilot program.”