The Federal Government has announced new travel guidelines effective December 3 to address the palpable fear brought about by the new COVID Omicron variant
National Incident Manager and Technical Head, Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Mukhtar Mohammed, stated on Monday that “there is no doubt that currently, there is a global concern about the new COVID-19 variant, the Omicron which was discovered in Botswana, and announced by South Africa last week. There are palpable fears that this variant could be on its way to Nigeria, in view of the number of countries that are currently reported to detection of this variant.
“Aside today, there has not been any detected case. And the PSC has continued to review our risk of this latest information and take every necessary step to stop it from being imported into the country. We have taken far reaching proactive measures to minimise and mitigate this possibility.
“Consequently, the PRC will be issuing a travel guideline document tomorrow. But let me highlight the contents of this travel guideline. Passengers arriving into the country are required to do a PCR test 48 hours before the departure.
They will also do day two and day seven PCR test on arrival. And then you are required to self-isolate for seven days.
Passengers that are outbound of Nigeria will be required to either show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or provide a negative PCR test taken 48 hours before departure.
These conditions apply to diplomats as well.
“The measures will come into effect by Friday, December 3, 2021. The PSC will ensure there is an enforcement of passengers who arrive and refuse to take test through suspension of their passports and prosecution or both. Furthermore, we will be increasing our surveillance at the points of entry into the country, intensify testing and contact tracing, and optimize sequencing capacity.”
