The Federal Government has issued a travel ban on 13 countries over the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha made the announcement at a media briefing on Wednesday.

The affected countries are the United State of America, the United Kingdom,  China, Japan, Iran, Switzerland, Norway, Netherlands, France, South Korea, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The restrictions will take effect March 21, 2020.

There’s also a temporarily suspension on the issuance of visas on arrival, following the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

In a statement by the Presidential Task Force on COVID -19 which was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari on March 17, “The Federal Government of Nigeria is restricting entry into the country for travellers from the following thirteen (13) countries; China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland. These are all countries with over 1,000 case domestically;

” All persons arriving in Nigeria who might have visited these countries, 0fteen 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.

“The Federal Government is also counseling all Nigerians to cancel or postpone all non-essential travels to these countries; and

” The Federal Government urges Public Health Authorities of countries with a high burden to conduct diligent departure screening of passengers and also endorses this travel advisory to their nationals to postpone travels to Nigeria”.

The statement further added that these restrictions will take immediate effect from Saturday, March 21, 2020, for four weeks subject to review.

SGF, Boss Mustapha

This comes after Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire on Tuesday confirmed another case of the virus in Lagos, making it the third case in the country.

The person who is a 30-year-old Nigerian female returned from the United Kingdom on March 13, observed self-isolation and developed symptoms, thereby testing positive.

The lady is currently at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Yaba and contact tracing has commenced.

The Federal Government had earlier Wednesday ordered closure of all National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, orientation camps in the country.

It had also on Tuesday banned all government officials from embarking on foreign trips as the world continues to battle COVID-19, while also approving the postponement of the National Sports Festival Tagged: Edo 2020