Omicron Covid-19 variant: FG to issue new travel protocols

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BY ABDULKADIR M. LAWAN, NOVEMBER 30, 2021 | 10:50 AM


Federal Government of Nigeria has said that it will release a new travel protocol today as a proactive measure to prevent the Omicron Covid-19 variant from entering the country.

Mukhtar Muhammad, the national incident manager of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 stated this on Monday during a media briefing.

Nigeria has no any case of Omicron, a Covid-19 variant recently identified and named by World Health Organization.

It was first identified from a testing done on travelers from West Africa on November 9 in Botswana, which this paper has reported yesterday.

Muhammad noted that no any case of the variant has been detected in Nigeria, noting that the task force has taken far-reaching proactive measures to minimize and mitigate this possibility.

‘Consequently, the PSC will be issuing a travel guideline document tomorrow, but let me highlight the contents of this travel guideline.

‘Passengers arriving in the country are required to do a PCR test 48 hours before departing. They will also do day two and day seven PCR tests on arrival and they will be required to self-isolate for seven days.

‘Passengers that are outbound, going out 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, 3rd of December, 2021.

‘The PSC will ensure that there is enforcement of passengers who arrive and refuse to take tests through suspension of their passports and prosecution, or both. Furthermore, we’ll be increasing our surveillance at the ports of entry into the country, intensifying testing and contact tracing, and optimizing sequencing capacity,’ he explained.


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