The government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has suspended the airlifting of Nigerians to Dubai as part of measures to check the spread of COVID-19.
The latest decision comes 24 hours after Emirates, the UAE carrier, announced the temporary suspension of outbound flights from Lagos and Abuja.
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Nigeria’s biggest carrier, Air Peace, which operates to Sharjah-Dubai, has also communicated the decision of the UAE authorities to its passengers.
Air Peace, however, apologised for the flight disruptions
“The Management of Air Peace wishes to notify the flying public that the UAE Government has stopped the airlifting of Nigerians from Nigeria to UAE as part of its COVID-19 measures.
“However, flights bringing Nigerians back from UAE are not affected. To this end, Air Peace flight from UAE (Sharjah-Dubai) to Lagos is not affected. Normal flights shall resume when the restriction is lifted from February 28, 2021,” Air Peace said in its communication.
Flight restriction is one of the measures which countries have used to check the spread of COVID-19.
There are over 106 million confirmed COVID-19 cases across the world out of which 2.3 million deaths have been recorded.