By Blessing David
The Presidential Steering committee on Covid 19 PSC has announced that, should there be decline in global cases,effective from April 4th,2022,travellers coming into Nigeria will no longer be made to do a Covid 19 PCR test
Chairman of the PSC,Boss Mustapha made this known yesterday in Abuja during the PSC briefing which is the first held since December last year.
The meeting he said focused on updates on some key developments ranging from the review of the international travel protocols, update on vaccination status, and the evacuation of Nigerians from Ukraine,stated that it still had the National Response in place to monitor global trends and adapt them with the situation in the country.
He said there have been a consistent decline in number of cases around the world but that does not give Nigeria the leverage to let her guards down as there are predictions of rebounds as seen in China, South Korea, Germany, Vietnam, France, Hong Kong, among others.
He stated that, the world has so far recorded over 471 million confirmed cases, 6 million deaths and over 11 billion vaccine doses administered, while in Nigeria, they have recorded 255,103 and 3,142 persons have died as a result of COVID-19.
He said even though over 20 million Nigerians have been vaccinated with at least the first dose,the number was still not encouraging, hence, the need for all eligible Nigerians to come out and be vaccinated.
However, the He informed that the PSC has reviewed these situations around the world and applies such to the situation in Nigeria and have revised the International Travel Protocols, with effect fromMonday, 4th April, 2022 as follows,fully vaccinated passengers arriving in Nigeria will no longer be required to take a pre-departure PCR COVID-19 test.
He explained that, Passengers who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated shall take a COVID-19 PCR test 48 hours before departure, or do a Day 2 and day 7 test on arrival. Such passengers will be expected to pay for their PCR tests through the travel platform;
Fully vaccinated passengers will not be charged for arrival rapid antigen tests at the airport; just as r ules that apply to fully vaccinated adults also apply to children aged 10 – 18 years as they will not be required to have pre-arrival PCR tests but will have a sample taken at the arrival hall.
The meeting also hinted that the Port Health Services have so far screened about 2,357 Nigerians evacuated from Ukraine for COVID-19 out of the over 8,000 residents or students living in Ukraine and 193 out of these passengers have tested positive to COVID-19.
The PSC warn that Nigerians should be mindful of Scammers specially in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, who come to assist them in accessing the NITP and in the process, register them as children to avoid paying post arrival test.
The PSC who further put Nigerians on notice of two major religious festivities (Easter and Sallah) to be approaching,pointed out that it shall be experiencing increased passenger traffic in and out of the country, as such, Nigerians should increase their vigilance and take measures to moderate activities seriously.