FG reinstates COVID-19 travel protocol as more countries restrict Chinese travellers

Months after withdrawal of all COVID-19 travel protocols, the Federal Government has partially restored mandatory guidelines for travellers coming into the country.

Henceforth, all in-bound travellers are mandated to show evidence of COVID-19 vaccination or get vaccinated at the airports.

This is coming as more countries are imposing new COVID-19 measures on travellers coming from China. In the European Union (EU), Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden have so far stepped up rules on travellers from China in response to rising cases.

Elsewhere, Australia, Canada, India, Israel, Malaysia, Morocco, Qatar, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States (U.S.) have introduced additional COVID-19 measures for arrivals from China.

Director of Port Health Services, Geoffrey Okatubo, said that the port health service had upgraded its surveillance at the country’s points of entry due to the spike in COVID-19 cases in the U.S., China and Japan.

Okatubo, however, said pre-departure and post-arrival PCR test requirements for all persons, who are not fully vaccinated, remain suspended. All passengers would not be required to upload evidence of vaccination on the Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP).

But, “port health service has resumed checks of passengers’ vaccination status and will provide traffic data on inbound passengers from all over the world.

“All international travellers arriving Nigeria are now to provide evidence of vaccination at point of entry and it was agreed that unvaccinated passengers arriving from other countries may have to be vaccinated at the airport.

“The minister of health also recently approved that port health services should meet with other stakeholders such as the NCDC, and the ministry of aviation over the use of rapid diagnostic testing at points of entry,” he said.

China has clapped back at the targeted entry restrictions saying they lack scientific basis and are unreasonable.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said on Tuesday that the country is “firmly opposed to such practices” and threatened retaliation.