PSC currently reviewing travel advisory, public health safety measure -NCDC DG

The Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 says it is currently reviewing the travel advisory and public health safety measures.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, made the clarification on Monday in Abuja during the PSC National Briefing.

“We acknowledge the concerns of Nigerians regarding the Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP), COVID-19 testing pre-and post-arrival in Nigeria.

“We would like to clarify some of these concerns.

”the current travel advisory and public health safety measures were under review by the PSC and will be updated shortly,” he said.

The NITP, he said, was developed by the private sector and is managed by Nigerians in the public sector as one of several measures introduced to limit the risk of importation and spread of COVID-19.

“In spite of the challenges in the functionalities of the site, mostly related to payments using foreign cards, we have continued to work extremely hard on its improvement.

“While the NITP site is hosted on NCDC’s domain, all funds for testing purposes are paid through the bank to the accredited private laboratories.

“No funds from private testing are received by NCDC. COVID-19 testing in government laboratories remains free of
charge for public health purposes.

“Testing for personal purposes such as travel is paid for by individuals to be conducted in private laboratories,” he said.

The NCDC boss also noted that in the meantime, the NCDC has continued to deliver on its mandate, including a strong response to COVID-19 and other concurrent disease outbreaks in the country.