The federal government may impose a travel ban to and from
certain parts of the world over the new strain of COVID-19 manifesting itself
in the United Kingdom.
Speaking at a special forum of NAN in Abuja on Monday, Lai
Mohammed, minister of information, said while the government knows the negative
economic impact of another lockdown, it would not rule out restriction on
movement to and from certain parts of the world.
Mohammed is a member of the presidential task force on
COVID-19.
“We are more concerned about the new strain of COVID-19
which is manifesting itself in the UK; that is the mutated strain,” he said.
“It is difficult to detect, it spreads faster and people
have been known to die of it within a very short period of its detection.
“This is a major concern to us as a country. While I do not
want to pre-empt the PTF because we are meeting this afternoon, it is going to
be top on the agenda of our discussions. I will not be surprised if that will
be the recommendation of the committee which is meeting later today.
“This season, many students are coming from the UK in
particular, to come and join their families in Nigeria. Besides, many of our
people, because of the traditional link we have with UK, may want to go there
for business or family re-union.
“It is a very testy time and it might be another dangerous
period to transmit this new variant of COVID-19.”
The minister noted that many European countries had banned
flights to and from the UK.”
Mohammed said the federal government is worried about the
spike in infections in the last couple of days.
He enjoined Nigerians to comply with the advisory being
regularly issued by the PTF, including the use of face mask, compliance with
social distancing protocols and regular washing of hands with soap and water.
The minister also urged Nigerians to refrain from local or
international travels except if absolutely necessary.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has asked the federal
government to immediately restrict flights from the United Kingdom.
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