The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced that it might enforce a travel ban to and from certain parts of the world due to the new strain of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom.
This much was disclosed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Monday, in Abuja.
The Minister, who is also a member of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, was speaking at the agency’s forum.
Mohammed explained that the government, though weighing up the negative economic effect another lockdown will have, would not rule out restricting movement to and from certain parts of the globe.
“We are more concerned about the new strain of COVID-19 which is manifesting itself in the UK; that is the mutated strain,” Lai Mohammed 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.
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“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 (Monday) 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,” he declared.
Mohammed pointed out that many European and Arab countries had banned flights to and from the United Kingdom in the wake of the strain.
“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 reunion.
“It is a very testy time and it might be another dangerous period to transmit this new variant of COVID-19,” the Minister explained.
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