Coronavirus: FG Imposes Travel Restrictions On 13 Countries
The Federal Government, on Wednesday, announced its decision to restrict entry into the country for travellers from 13 countries due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The countries are China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland.
They are all countries with over 1,000 case domestically. The restriction will come into effect from March 21, 2020.
The chairman of the presidential task force on COVID-19 and Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, disclosed this a press briefing in Abuja.
He said it was part of measures to contain and manage the pandemic.
Following the inauguration of the task force, Mustapha had, on Tuesday, announced the government’s decision to stop all foreign travels by government officials and advised the general public to do same.
He said: “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 Federal Government of Nigeria is restricting entry into the country for travellers from the following thirteen (13) countries; China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland. These are all countries with over 1,000 case domestically;
“All persons arriving in Nigeria who might have visited these countries, 0fteen 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 counselling all Nigerians to cancel or postpone all non-essential travels to these countries; and
“These restrictions will come into effect from Saturday, March 21, 2020, for four (4) weeks subject to review.”
Meanwhile, the government has stopped the issuance of visas and cancelled already issued visas to citizens of the affected countries.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents after Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja.
PUNCH
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