As the World Health Organization finally declares COVID-19 a global pandemic, Nigeria has imposed restrictions on inbound international travelers from countries that fall within three categories.
For Category A, travelers to and from China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, Japan, and Hong Kong are affected. Individuals arriving from these countries will be immediately quarantined for 14 days in a Nigerian Government controlled and approved isolation facility.
Also, all business travels to and from these countries are suspended, while rotational travel is also suspended.
For Category B, travelers arriving from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Macau, and Taiwan will be placed under monitored 14-day mandatory self-quarantine.
Travelers are advised to avoid non-critical business travel and every critical business travel only and require the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Management’s approval while rotational travel from these countries is suspended.
For Category C, travelers arriving from Australia, France, Germany, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Canada, Vietnam, United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Egypt and Algeria are not placed under any travel restrictions for now.
They will only be required to complete a medical questionnaire seven days before the date of travel and get a response from the Medical team within 48 hours.
Recall that WHO on Wednesday declared that the new coronavirus, which was unknown to world health officials just three months ago and has rapidly spread to more than 121,000 people from Asia to the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the United States, a global pandemic.
“In the past two weeks, the number of cases outside China has increased thirteen-fold and the number of affected countries has tripled,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.