Omicron: FG Reacts to British Travel Ban
By Alabidun Shuaib Abdulrahman
Despite travel bans imposed by Canada, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, the Federal Government ruled out restricting foreign visitors from visiting Nigeria on Sunday.
This is just as the government claimed that the majority of inbound travelers who tested positive for COVID-19 came from the United Kingdom.
Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health, stated this on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ show on Sunday.
The knee-jerk reaction of some countries to the Omicron strain, according to Ehanire, is terrible. He pointed out that even the World Health Organization has stated that rather than closing borders, governments should rely on partnership.
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“At the moment we have no plans restricting anybody coming from another country,” he said.
According to reports, the WHO designated the omicron variation as a variant of concern two weeks ago. Last Monday, the NCDC announced that three cases of the variation had been reported in the country. The Canadian authorities had previously revealed that it had discovered two people with the variation who had traveled to Nigeria.
On Saturday night, the United Kingdom said that it has discovered 21 cases of the omicron variant connected to Nigeria. It said that all flights departing from Nigeria would be restricted from Monday (today).
Owing to the suspension on flights from Nigeria due to the Omicron variation, it also halted all pending visa applications in Nigeria.
In a statement on Sunday, the commission said, “To support the UK Government’s aim to protect public health from COVID-19 and associated variants of concern, UK Visas and Immigration will pause making decisions on visitor visa applications in all red list countries, including Nigeria, until travel restrictions are lifted.
“If you apply for a visit visa in a red list country and you meet the UK Immigration Rules, your application will be paused. You will not receive a decision on your visit visa application whilst red list travel restrictions remain in place. You will not be able to request a refund of your visa fee once you have given your biometrics at a Visa Application Centre. If you already hold a valid visit visa and are intending to travel to England as a visitor from a red list country, you will not be allowed to enter.”
The UK said there are only very limited exemptions to travel and entry requirements for critical workers and medical and compassionate cases.”
But the minister said the Omicron strain could not yet be declared as a deadly strain because no deaths had so far been recorded across the world.
“We are watching what the science community is saying and of course not rushing to judgment and we are also not applauding any lockdowns or any prohibitions or banning of flights or movement of people until we know more.
“We believe that the harm it will do to livelihoods and economies may be more that the perceived value that will be derived from shutting movement between countries. I believe countries should come together to take a common approach and that includes the UK and other countries contemplating a red list,” Ehanire added.
When asked why there was a large number of outbound Nigerian passengers testing positive abroad despite testing negative in Nigeria, Ehanire admitted that indeed, some fake test results were being presented by passengers.
The minister said the government had tightened its mechanism for spotting fake results and vaccination cards.
He, however, argued that the development was not peculiar to Nigeria, adding that most of the inbound passengers that tested positive in Nigeria were actually from the UK.
“Because of the very large volume of travellers from the UK, we also have the most positive COVID-19 virus coming from the UK too,” the minister said.
When asked if anyone had been prosecuted for presenting a fake vaccination certificate or test result, Ehanire explained that the normal procedure was to quarantine such people before handing them over to the police. He admitted that he never followed up to know what happened to such people
Ehanire said the government was exploring the option of setting up vaccination centres at supermarkets and worship centres.
The minister added that the government was looking at vaccinating at least 70 per cent of the population against coronavirus.
He stated that Nigeria had about 100 million doses which would be delivered to the country in phases.
On the possibility of vaccine production, Ehanire said the Federal Government was seriously looking towards that, adding that it would be a collaborative effort with the private sector.
Regarding the possible spike in COVID-19 infections during the Yuletide, Ehanire said the government would continue to encourage non-pharmaceutical interventions like wearing of masks, social distancing and use of hand sanitisers.
When asked if Nigeria was already facing another wave of COVID-19 infections, he responded in the affirmative, adding that the 4th wave had been predicted long ago and this may just be it.
Ehanire stated, “We had the so-called third wave already with the Delta variant. This is what we are looking at as the 4th wave and it was predicted as far back as a month ago that there might be a 4th wave in Nigeria and perhaps the world and it is already accurately manifesting. We hope it doesn’t get to be that and if it becomes the 4th wave, it will not be deadly to our citizens.”
