Following its resolve to reduce the disturbing case of Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Federal Government has added Austria and Sweden to the list of countries with a high-risk weight of the pandemic.
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The addition has brought the number of countries placed under restriction by Nigeria to 15.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, while giving an update on the coronavirus in Abuja, said that arrivals from all the countries shall be subjected to supervised isolation in the form of a follow-up.
Ehanire said that this would be conducted by the Port Health Services and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control with an option of testing.
He said: “According to our national case definition, we have identified two more high-risk countries, Austria and Sweden, who were added in the last 24 hours.
“We are also including COVID-19 testing in our routine surveillance for influenza-like illness.”
The minister also advised people who returned to the country to book hotel accommodation and isolate themselves if they had no conducive place to do so, without making contact.
Ehanire added that the testing centre would be activated once the needed machine arrived from a donor country in the Middle-East.
In the meantime, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has said all international flights into the country should be restricted to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
In a letter to airline operators, dated March 19, the Director-General NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, said the directive was as a result of the Federal Government’s travel ban on 15 countries, while also explaining that the directive would take effect Saturday, March 21, by 12 am.
The Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu and Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, according to him, n the meantime, would be closed to all international flights.
Nuhu also stated that all persons arriving in Nigeria who might have visited the countries affected by the travel ban 15 days prior to arrival, would be subjected to supervised self-quarantine and testing for 14 days.
The DG said: “The travel restriction is applicable to all flight crew from the affected countries.
“All operators wishing to operate into Nigeria are required to operate with two sets of flight crew; one set to operate into Nigeria and one set to operate out of Nigeria.”
