A new international travel guideline has been issued by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, removing mandatory Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing for fully vaccinated visitors and stiff penalties for unvaccinated travellers violating the new rules.
\nAccording to the \u2018Provisional Travel Protocol for Travellers Arriving Nigeria\u2019, issued, yesterday morning by the Chairman of the PSC and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, the new guideline, which takes effect from today, also prescribes sanctions for airlines that bring violators of the new rules.
\nMustapha said that the new guideline prescribed for the fully vaccinated would apply to travellers between ages 10 and 18 years.
\nHe said that unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated international travellers would still be required to take the PCR test 48 hours before boarding a flight to Nigeria.
\n\u201cThis protocol is a revision of the Travel Protocol released on November 29, 2021, Interim Travel Guidelines for Passengers arriving in Nigeria.
\n\u201cIn-bound passengers to Nigeria, who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, are no longer required to carry out COVID-19 PCR test before boarding Nigeria-bound flights.
\n\u201cFully vaccinated passengers arriving Nigeria will not also be required to carry out post arrival PCR test or a Rapid Antigen Test upon arrival in Nigeria.
\n\u201cChildren below the age of 18 years will be accorded the same privileges as persons who are fully vaccinated.
\n\u201cIn-bound passengers who are unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated for COVID-19 shall take a COVID-19 PCR test 48 hours before departure and undergo Days 2 and 7 post-arrival PCR tests at their own cost.
\n\u201cAll in-bound passengers MUST register via the online Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP\u2013 https:\/\/nitp.ncdc.gov.ng),\u201d it said.
\nMeanwhile, for outbound travellers, the guideline prescribes that \u201call passengers travelling out of Nigeria are: Encouraged to have evidence of full vaccination against COVID-19; and comply with the COVID-19 guidelines of their destination or transit countries.
\n\u201cFamiliarise themselves with the COVID-19 travel requirements of their destination and transit countries before embarking on the journey,\u201d it said.
\nAddressing the issue of airlines boarding violators of the guideline, it said, among other sanctions, such airlines would be fined $3,500 for each violator and could be banned from flying into Nigeria.
\n\u201cAirlines that board travellers without the appropriate required documents; vaccine certificate, a negative COVID-19 PCR test done not more than 48 hours prior to boarding, and a Paid Permit to Travel\/QR code (as may be applicable to the passenger, shall be sanctioned as follows: Travellers, who are non-Nigerians, will be refused entry into Nigeria and returned to the point of embarkation at the cost to the airline.
\n\u201cTravellers who are Nigerians or holders of a permanent residence permit will be allowed entry but subjected to the procedure outlined in Section D of the guideline.
\n\u201cIn addition, travellers arriving with forged (fake) vaccine certificates or COVID-19 PCR results shall be prosecuted and required to carry out PCR tests on arrival, on days 2 and 7.
\n\u201cAirlines shall be fined $3,500 per traveller for failure to comply with any of the pre-boarding requirements.
\n\u201cAirlines who consistently fail to comply with the requirements may be banned from coming to Nigeria; and at the time of boarding, travellers will be required to undergo temperature screening and asked about COVID-19 symptoms.
\n\u201cTravellers with temperature 38\u00b0C and other COVID-19-related signs and symptoms shall not be allowed to board the flight,\u201d the document read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new international travel guideline has been issued by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, removing mandatory Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing for fully vaccinated visitors and stiff penalties for unvaccinated travellers violating the new rules. According to the \u2018Provisional Travel Protocol for Travellers Arriving Nigeria\u2019, issued, yesterday morning by the Chairman of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":291507,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-291480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=291480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291481,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291480\/revisions\/291481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/291507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=291480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=291480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=291480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}