A Nigerian official on Monday criticised a travel ban imposed on the West African nation by the British government amid fears about the new Omicron coronavirus variant as “punitive, indefensible and discriminatory”.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Saturday added Nigeria to the United Kingdom’s travel “red list”, which means that arrivals from there will be banned except for British and Irish residents. He said there was a “significant number” of Omicron cases linked to travel with Nigeria, with 27 cases recorded in England.
But Nigerian authorities say they have not reported any new Omicron cases in the country since announcing on December 1 that they had detected three cases in travellers who arrived from South Africa.
The British travel ban is “not driven by science” and is “unjust, unfair, punitive, indefensible and discriminatory”, Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed told reporters.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is not considering imposing travel bans from any country now, Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire told The Associated Press news agency. Instead, it is focusing on ramping up surveillance and testing as it aims to “balance saving lives and saving livelihoods”.
Only about 3.78 million of Nigeria’s 206 million people have been fully vaccinated so far. But Enahire said the situation in the country is under control, adding that the government is able to access 100 million doses. Last week, Nigeria also approved boosters for the fully vaccinated.
New confirmed cases have remained low since the first cases of the new variant were detected, averaging 80 daily.
Credit: Aljazeera.com
