Coronavirus: We Will Not Place Travel Ban On Foreign Countries — Nigerian Government Insist

The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunnibe Mamora has reinstated the intention of the Federal Government about imposing a travel ban on visitors from countries where the deadly coronavirus has a stronghold.

Mamora made this known during a press conference in Abuja said visitors from such countries would be screened before entering Nigeria but not banned from either traveling out or into the century.

He said: “Despite we have not recorded a confirmed COVID-19 case in the last one week in Nigeria, it is important to remember that we are still at high risk like other countries. We will continue to monitor returning travellers that fit our case definition and improve our surveillance, detection and risk communications.

“We have carried out a review of our case definition. We have added three new countries to the existing list of five high-risk countries with widespread community transmission. These are France, Germany and Spain. Therefore, eight countries are on our priority list – China, Japan, Iran, Italy, Republic of Korea, France and Germany.

Mamora added, “Forty-seven people have tested negative and have been cleared. One was positive (after contact with the index case) and one result is pending. There has been no death. “The index case is clinically stable and has improved greatly.”

Meanwhile, A third case of the coronavirus disease has been confirmed in Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial capital city.

Naija News understands the patient is an independent case not connected with the index case of the Italian man. She is a 30-year-old Nigerian female who returned from the United Kingdom on Friday, 13 March 2020, observed self-isolation, developed symptoms and has been tested positive.