Please share
The Federal Government has banned passengers who have visited Brazil, Turkey and India in the last 14 days from entering Nigeria.
Nigerians should also avoid visiting the countries except for very essential reasons,the Federal Government said, adding the validity period of pre-boarding Covid-19 for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test for all Nigeria-bound passengers has been reduced from 96 to 72 hours.
The government also urged airlines should desist from airlifting non-complying passengers into the country, or face $3,500 penal fee per passenger.
The new guideline,which would take effect from tomorrow,is however subject to review after an initial period of four weeks,according to Boss Mustapha,chairman Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19
The committee stated violating non-Nigerian citizens would be denied entry and returned to the country of embarkation at cost to the airline.
It added that within 24 hours of arrival, such passenger would take a COVID-19 PCR test and if positive, the passenger would be admitted within a government-approved treatment centre, in line with the national treatment protocols.
It stated that if negative, the passenger would continue to remain in quarantine and made to undergo a repeat PCR test on day seven of his/her quarantine.
Also, the committee explained that passengers arriving in Nigeria from other destinations must observe a seven-day self-isolation at their final destination, carry out a COVID-19 PCR test on day seven at selected laboratory.
It added that such would be monitored for compliance to isolation protocol by appropriate authorities.
It said: “Passenger(s) who provided false or misleading contact information will be liable to prosecution.Person(s) who willfully disregard or refuse to comply with directions of Port-Health staff, security agencies or evade quarantine shall be prosecuted in accordance with the law.State Governments are required to ensure that all returning travellers from all countries are monitored to ensure adherence to the mandatory seven-day self-isolation period and the repeat COVID-19 PCR test on the seventh day after arrival.”
The committee emphasised that it had been monitoring developments in some countries in the past few weeks, stressing that some of the countries had high incidence, fatality rate and widespread prevalence of variants of Coid-19 pandemic.
Please share