Covid-19: FG restricts international flights to Lagos, Abuja
..Adds Sweden, Austria to high risk countries
The federal government has on Friday announced that international flights has been restricted to only Murtala Muhammad International Airport Lagos and Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, as part of measures to curb the spread of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus). All other Airports will be closed to international travel.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire while speaking in Abuja at a press conference explained that the country is experiencing and influx of Covid-19 from international travellers which informed the move.
Ehanire said all other Airports , which are Port Harcourt and Kano will only run domestic flights. He said travellers form foreign countries will be required to self-isolate even if they feel well.
Furthermore, he added that two countries have been added to the list of high risk countries, they are; Austria and Sweden. Others are; China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland.
However, the minister stated that as at March 20th 2020, Nigeria has 12 cases of Coronavirus, 9 in Lagos, 2 in Ogun and one in Ekiti. He said the index case, the Italian man will be discharged if he tests Negative to the virus again.
Ehanire also said government has intensified efforts to trace 1,300 contacts and called the support of every Nigeria to successfully trace all contacts which he described as an “ardous task”.
Meanwhile, he noted that the government has scaled up response efforts to contain the virus. He insisted on self-isolation as an effective strategy to curb the spread.
On whether Nigeria will employ mandatory quarantine for international travellers, Ehanire said Nigeria will only adopt response measures than are in line with the situation in the country.
He assured that there are adequate isolation centres to revieve patients should there be further spread across the country, while noting that no country was prepared for the virus.
On the use of chloroquine, the minister said chloroquine has not been proven to be active. He said Nigeria will not adhere to the recommendations of Donald Trump, US president, but will rather follow WHO guidelines.