Federal Government has warned Nigerians against travelling to countries that are recording a third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, especially India where they largely go to for medical tourism.
The countries that are currently recording a third wave of the pandemic are India, Brazil, South Africa and Turkey.
National Incident Manager (NIM) of Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Dr. Mukhtar Muhammad, disclosed this at the media briefing by the committee on Monday.
Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, formerly Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, also warned Nigerians against shunning safety protocols against the virus, saying the pandemic was not over.
It said it is considering issuing travel advisory on international flights coming from these countries in the next 48 to 72 hours.
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Muhammad said;
While we continue to reopen the economy, we must also be aware of the happenings around the globe. Mr Chairman (Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha) and the Honourable Minister of Health (Prof. Osagie Ehanire) have made reference to specific incidents in India, Turkey, Brazil and South Africa.
We sympathise with the people of these countries because it is really a very trying time particularly for India that is recording over 300,000 cases a day, and recording over 2,000 deaths.
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He stressed;
India is a prime destination for medical tourism for Nigeria. We know that many Nigerians like to travel – to go to India but now… we urge Nigerians to limit all travels to only essential travels, particularly to these affected countries.
Muhammad noted that the safety guidelines regarding public spaces and mask wearing still applied to public places such as supermarkets, malls, event centers.
He adding that;
Enforcement will continue to be observed and we will continue to monitor these places for violations.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has expressed disappointed over what it called vaccine hesitancy among Nigerians.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of PSC, Boss Mustapha, lamented what it called vaccine hesitancy among Nigerians.
He said;
The vaccination programme is still progressing but we still have reasons to intensify our campaign against hesitancy.
The records show that we have vaccinated 1,173,869 representing 58.3 per cent of the eligible persons targeted in the current phase have received the first dose of Astra Zeneca vaccine. This is low in our estimation.
Mustapha told Nigerians that while the nation mark the holy month of Ramadan, citizens must not forget that the virus was still virulent and raging in some other countries.
