By Francis Ogwo
The Federal Government has announced new travel measures for air passengers entering Nigeria from the UK and South Africa where a new variant of coronavirus was recently discovered.
A statement released by the Nigeria Civil Aviation on Sunday, December 26, and signed by the MD/CEO, Captain Musa Nuhu, stated that the National Coordinator for Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus, said:
“Effective from Monday, December 28th, all passengers coming into the country from the UK and South Africa on direct flights must use the Nigerian International travel portal to register, fill in the health questionnaire and must upload a negative COVID-19 PCR result with a validity of more than five days.”
He also added that all air passengers from the two countries must pay for the coronavirus PCR test as travellers who fail to comply with these measures “will not be allowed to board flights.”
Recent reports quoted the Nigerian Deputy Health, Minister Olorunnimbe Mamora, as saying that the number of air passengers testing positive for coronavirus had increased from 129 last week to 270 this week. He said arrivals from the European countries had also doubled recently despite upsurge in the COVID-19 cases in those countries.
According to available data from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control data, since the virus was first reported in March, Nigeria has confirmed 1,242 COVID-19-related deaths, 81,963 infections, and 69,651 recoveries in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
