Coronavirus: FG places travel ban on 13 countries

— As UK, US export coronavirus to Nigeria, six-week-old baby positive

The Federal Government on Wednesday stepped up its precautionary measures against coronavirus by issuing a travel ban on 13 countries.

The government also suspended the visas issued to nationals of those countries and the visa on arrival policy.

The blacklisted countries are the United States of America, the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Iran, Switzerland, Norway, Netherland, France, South Korea, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

On Tuesday, the Presidential Task Force on Coronavirus announced a travel ban on officials from going to those countries.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha announced the extended ban at a media briefing on Wednesday.

“These are all countries with over 1,000 cases of Coronavirus domestically,” he said.

“The Federal Government is temporarily suspending all visas issued to nationals from these countries. Nigerians arriving from these countries will be subjected to supervised isolation for 14 days.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria is also advising all Nigerians to avoid travel to these countries.

“These restrictions will come into effect from Fri 20 March 2020 for 4 weeks subject to review,” Mustapha said.

From all indications, Nigeria is increasingly exposed to the deadly coronavirus.

That is the stark reality that confronted Nigerians on Wednesday as government confirmed five new cases of coronavirus just in Nigeria by the Federal Ministry of Health were imported from the USA and United Kingdom, increasing the cases in Nigeria from three registered in Lagos to eight nationally.

Three of the confirmed cases, two of them Nigerians, a mother and her six-week old baby arrived from the US. Another two cases, all Nigerians arrived from the UK.

Government did not indicate where the cases were found.

“A detailed travel history of each case is being compiled & contact tracing has begun

“Our National Emergency Operations Centre is supporting response in the states

“The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Health is conducting risk assessment to initiate other relevant measures”, said a tweet by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control.

“We urge Nigerians to remain calm as public health response activities are intensified across the country”, NCDC said.