The Federal Government of Nigeria has issued a travel ban on 13 countries in a bid to curb the spread of novel Covid-19 (coronavirus).
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, made the announcement at a media briefing on Wednesday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Mustapha, who was accompanied by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehinare, explained that the ban on the 13 countries became necessary because of their high-risk status in terms of the spread of coronavirus.
He said the ban on the 13 countries would take effect from Saturday, March 21, 2020, adding that the Visa-on-Arrival policy had been temporarily suspended.
He also advised all Nigerians with foreign travel plans to the banned countries to either cancel or suspend such plans.
“This morning, we have found it necessary to brief Nigerians on further measures being taken after an assessment of the global situation. They are as follows:
The affected countries are the United State of America, the United Kingdom, China, Japan and Iran.
Other countries affected are Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, France, South Korea, Germany, Italy and Spain.
The countries affected in the travel ban are those with over 1,000 cases domestically.
Mustapha noted that, “All persons arriving in Nigeria who might have visited these countries, fifteen days prior to such arrival, will be subjected to supervised self-isolation and testing for 14 days.
“The Federal Government is temporarily suspending the issuance of all visas on arrival. The Federal Government is also counseling all Nigerians to cancel or postpone all non-essential travels to these countries.
He added that, “The Federal Government urges Public Health Authorities of countries with high burden to conduct diligent departure screening of passengers and also endorses this travel advisories to their nationals to postpone travels to Nigeria.
“These restrictions will come into effect from Saturday, 21st March, 2020 for four (4) weeks subject to review”, he said.
