COVID-19: Nigeria to impose travel ban on India, Brazil and Turkey- Presidential Steering Committee
In order to avert a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Head of Technical Secretariat of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on the pandemic, Dr. Mukhtar Muhammad, has announced that the federal government will be issuing a travel advisory on inbound flights from India, Brazil and Turkey.
Muhammed expressed concern over the situation in India, from where many companies in Nigeria massively hire skilled workers. It is also a popular destination for medical tourists from Nigeria.
Mohammed said: “While we continue to reopen the economy, we must also be aware of the happenings around the globe. Mr. Chairman and Minister of Health have made reference to specific incidences in India, Turkey, Brazil and also South Africa.
“These were taken with serious concern and we continue to monitor what is going on in these countries. We sympathise with the people of these countries because it is really a very trying time particularly for India, that is recording over 300,000 cases a day. And accordingly over 2000 deaths.
“It is not easy. India is a prime destination for medical tourism for Nigeria. We know that many Nigerians like to travel to go to India, but now we see the situation that the country has found itself in. We urge Nigerians to limit all travels to only essential travel, particularly to these affected countries.
“We will continue to urge Nigerians to also comply with public health measures that are put in place to continue to ensure that we comply with the regulation.
“The health of Nigerians is of prime importance and whatever we need to do to protect Nigeria and to protect Nigerians from going into escalation of this current situation, the PSC will do that as necessarily.
“We will be providing some travel advice in the next 48, 72 hours with particular reference to both Nigerians and those coming into the country to help advise us.”
On threat of a possible third wave, Muhammad said, “We’re not saying this just for saying sake, but it is important to look at what is going on around the globe to ensure that we protect our country. The fact that the number of cases in this country are not rising, it does not mean that we are immune or we are completely protected against COVID-19.
“The third wave, the way we see it going on now, it’s only a matter of time. It is not a matter of if, but truly a matter of when it is going to occur. And therefore these measures that have been outlined, we must continue to ensure that we comply and make sure that we protect our public and our communities.”
