The decision by the British government to put Nigeria on the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 pandemic red list has been described as unjust, unfair, punitive and discriminatory by the Federal government of Nigeria.
Government’s position came on a day President of African Development Bank, AfDB, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said the travel ban on some African countries over Omicron, was also “very unfair, non-scientific and discriminatory.”
This is even as former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Professor Kingsley Moghalu, advised African countries, including Nigeria and South Africa, to issue reciprocal travel restrictions on the United Kingdom, and other Western nations that had placed Nigeria on red list due to the Omicron COVID-19 variant.
Similarly, President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, Prof Cyril Usifoh, yesterday expressed concern over the continued ban of countries due to the Omicron variant, saying it would further widen the gap in COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria, aside from the economic implications that come with it.
However, Association of Lagos State Government Employed Medical Guild, allayed the fears of people over the Omicron variant, saying available data had so far shown that the new variant was not as deadly as previous variants.
Also, new rules requiring international air travellers arriving in the United States of America, USA, to obtain a negative Covid-19 test within one day of travel took effect from yesterday.
Under current rules, vaccinated international air travellers can present a negative test result obtained within three days of their day of departure. Unvaccinated travellers currently must get a negative Covid-19 test within one day of departure.
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, Director Rochelle Walensky’s order says the agency “must take quick and targeted action to help curtail the introduction and spread of the Omicron variant into the United States.”
The CDC said beginning Monday “All air travelers, regardless of citizenship or vaccination status, will be required to show a negative pre-departure Covid-19 viral test taken the day before they board their flight to the United States.”
The tighter testing timeline “provides an added degree of public health protection as scientists continue to assess the Omicron variant,” the White House said in a fact sheet released Thursday.
The CDC order noted the Omicron variant has been found in 23 countries. The order didn’t require Covid-19 testing requirements for international travellers crossing U.S. land borders with Canada or Mexico.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday said the decision of the British government was not driven by science but by indefensible judgment and urged it to rescind immediately the action.
Britain has now joined other countries, including Canada, which had earlier taken a similar action against Nigeria over Omicron. The Minister said: ‘‘How do you slam this kind of discriminatory action on a country of 200 million people just because of less than two dozen cases? Whereas British citizens and residents are allowed to come in from Nigeria, non-residents from the same country are banned.
‘‘The two groups are coming from the same country, but being subjected to different conditions. Why won’t Britain allow people in both categories to come in, and be subjected to the same conditions of testing and quarantine?
”This is why this decision to ban travellers from Nigeria, who are neither citizens nor residents, is grossly discriminatory and punitive.’’
Mohammed, who described the ban as a knee-jerk reaction, maintained that the decision, if not rescinded, could only be detrimental to Nigeria’s quest to conclusively tackle the pandemic.
