By Francis Ogwo
The Federal Government has announced plans to decontaminate 123 aircraft and 15 airports in a bid to strengthening the fight against COVID-19 and its spread through the airports.
This was disclosed recently in Abuja by the Minister of Environment, Muhammad Mahmood during a briefing with members of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
The Minister revealed, “Two aircraft have been treated so far, but we are of the view that it’s a tedious process and therefore, may be slow,” he said.
“The Aviation sector is such a specialized sector. We cannot rush things. I did say that we have mapped out 125 aircraft and 13 airports,” he added.
“So far, we have decontaminated and disinfected two aircraft. Why we are not rushing it is because of the nature of the industry.
“It is a place that when it comes to safety, everything must be followed carefully, and even when we want to do that, we have to follow their lead as to how and where to go while decontaminating the aircraft.
“For the airports, we need to be led on where we need to go, how and when we need to, also. The decontamination is ongoing because there are other facilities that we are decontaminating across the country. So, we will go as soon as they are ready for us.”
According to a Bloomberg report, airlines are adopting the world’s hardest-hitting disinfectants to rid planes of COVID-19 traces.
Some big airlines like Qantas Airways Ltd., Korean Air Lines Co. and Singapore Airlines Ltd., were among carriers that participated in the evacuation of people from Wuhan in China, and from a cruise ship off Japan.
They have since embarked on intensive aircraft-cleaning efforts as a result, trying to ensure that there are no virus traces in the aircraft after the rescue missions and they are back to the runways and safe for use.
