Coronavirus: Nigeria adds Sweden, Austria to list of restricted countries

The Federal Government of Nigeria has added Sweden and Austria to the list of countries banned from entering Nigeria because of their high-risk burden of coronavirus.

With the addition of the two, the number of countries placed under restriction by Nigeria is now 15.

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, disclosed this while giving updates in Abuja on the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria.

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“According to our national case definition, we have identified two more high-risk countries, Austria and Sweden, who were added in the last 24 hours.

“We are also including COVID-19 testing in our routine surveillance for influenza-like illness,” he said.

According to him, arrivals from all countries shall be subjected to supervised isolation in form of follow up.

This would be conducted by the Port Health Services and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) with an option of testing, he said.

Nigeria had, last Wednesday, banned entry into the country for travellers from 13 countries with high number of coronavirus cases.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, who disclosed this in Abuja, said the countries are; China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland.

The SGF said the restrictions will come into effect from Saturday, 21st March, 2020 (today) for four weeks subject to review.

“All persons arriving in Nigeria, who might have visited these countries often, days prior to such arrival, will be subjected to supervised self-isolation and testing for 14 days. The Federal Government is temporarily suspending the issuance of all visas on arrival,” Mustapha added.

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