On August 2, NARD embarked on a strike over “irregular payment of salaries”, among other issues.

Efforts of different stakeholders, including President Muhammadu Buhari and the house of representatives, to ensure the resident doctors shelve the strike did not yield the desired result.

The National Industrial Court, in a ruling on a suit filed by the federal government, had asked the resident doctors to return to work.

However, the striking doctors faulted the court’s ruling, vowing to appeal the order.

But speaking in a interview with TheCable on Monday, Godiya Ishaya, NARD president, said the association has officially called off the strike.

He said the decision to call off the strike was made in an emergency meeting with the association’s national executive council.

He added that the doctors will resume on Wednesday.

“We’ve officially suspended the strike to resume 8:00 am on Wednesday. We made the decision in the wee hours of today. We held an emergency meeting from 5:30pm on Sunday to the morning hours of today, and the NEC decided that having reviewed the progress made so far, the strike should be suspended,” he said.

This means that fully vaccinated Nigerians travelling to UK still need to self-isolate for 10 days.

From October 4, UK said the new travel system comes into force with countries and territories categorised as either “red” or “rest of the world.”

The previous traffic light system of green, amber and red lists have been scrapped.

In a statement on its website, the UK government released a list of over 50 countries with approved COVID-19 vaccination programmes and proof of vaccination for travel to England.

“Fully vaccinated residents in other countries not yet part of the inbound policy, as well as those partially vaccinated, will still have to take a pre-departure test, PCR tests for day 2 and day 8 after arrival, and self-isolate for 10 days, with the option to test to release after 5 days,” the statement reads.

“The UK government is continuing to work with international partners as we seek to more regularly expand the policy to further countries and territories.”

The government said that the new simplified travel system meant that eligible fully vaccinated passengers and eligible under-18s returning from over 50 countries and territories not on the red list, can do so without needing to complete a pre-departure test (PDT), a day 8 test or enter a 10-day self-isolation period, making it easier for those travelling — whether that’s to see friends and family, or on business trips.

It added that eligible fully vaccinated passengers with an approved vaccine and recognised certificate from a country not on the red list would be able to replace their day 2 test with a cheaper lateral flow test, reducing the cost of tests on arrival into England.

Grant Shapps, US transport secretary, said:

“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 8 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.

“Also from today, under-18s from the over 50 countries whose vaccination status the UK recognises will not need to present a negative PDT before travelling to England. This applies regardless of their vaccination status.”