Chidi Samuel| The federal government, worried about the mutated strain of COVID-19 manifesting itself in the United Kingdom, may impose a travel ban to and from certain parts of the world, minister of information, Lai Mohammed said on Monday.
Mohammed who made the disclosure in Abuja at a Special Forum of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said while the government appreciates the negative economic impact of another lockdown, it would not rule out restriction on movement to and from certain parts of the world.
“We are more concerned about the new strain of COVID-19 which is manifesting itself in the UK; that is the mutated strain.
“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,’’ he said.
“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 who equally noted that many European countries had banned flights to and from the UK, said the Federal Government will not hesitate in giving the directive if it is the only way Nigerians can be protected from the agony of the new variant of COVID-19.
Besides measures to prevent the importation of the new strain of COVID-19, the minister said government was worried about the spike in infections in the last couple of days.
There have been reports of a new strain of the virus in the United Kingdom and this has necessitated the suspension of flights from the country to France, Germany, Ireland, and other countries in Europe.
Canada, India, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia have all joined the list of non European countries to suspend direct flights to and from the UK.
-Nigeria confirms 356 new cases of COVID-19
Meanwhile, 356 new cases of #COVID19 were confirmed in the country on Monday by the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control.
According to a statement by the health agency via its verified Twitter handle, the new infections were recorded in 15 states and the FCT.
The federal capital territory recorded 79 new infections, followed by Lagos, the epicentre of the outbreak in Nigeria with -59, Kaduna-56, Katsina-37, and Nasarawa-30.
Other states that reported new cases include, Kano-25, Edo-18, Gombe-14, Kebbi-12, Akwa Ibom-7, Rivers-7, Sokoto-7, Abia-3, Ogun-1, and Cross River -1.
The NCDC further revealed that so far, Nigeria has 78,790 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus with 68,483 recoveries and 1,227 deaths.
With NAN report
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