The Chairman of Presidential Steering Committee (PSC), on COVID-19 pandemic, and Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, on Monday, announced the addition of South Africa to the list of countries from where travellers are banned because of the growing cases of COVID-19 in the country.
Mustapha made the announcement during a media briefing of the Committee in Abuja.
It could be recalled that the Federal Government had in May handed a similar ban on travellers from India, Brazil and Turkey over similar concerns.
He said: “A few weeks ago, we announced additional measures to be met by passengers arriving from Brazil, Turkey and India. This action was due to the prevalence of variants of concern and the dangers associated with the importation of the such virulent strain.
“The PSC has been reviewing these restrictions and is of the opinion that they should remain for another four weeks before it is further reviewed. South Africa, has, however, been added to this category once more.
“In addition to these three countries, the PSC has also shifted its focus on some African countries. South Africa, Zambia, Rwanda, Namibia and Uganda fall in this category.
“South Africa for example, recorded over 100, 000 cases in the last one week while 20,000 was recorded in the last 24 hours. The four major variants of concern are now classified as Alpha (UK), Beta (SA); Gamma (Brazil) and Delta (India).
Mustapha also stated that in the past few weeks, the PSC has been monitoring global developments on COVID-19 with a particular focus on variants of concern.
While noting that the PSC has escalated surveillance and risk communication, he added that it has similarly paid close attention to the issue of vaccination, especially matters relating to access and acquisition of vaccines.
The SGF urged members of the public not to lower their guards yet because of continued spikes in some countries (including African countries) and the emergence of variants of concern in several jurisdictions where the third wave has occurred.
