The Federal Government has announced  its decision  to restrict entry into the country for travelers from 13 countries including the US and UK, as it announced five new cases Wednesday. The restriction will apply to travelers from countries with more than 1,000 cases of the coronavirus, COVID-19 global health epidemic. The affected countries include China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, the United States, Norway, UK, Netherlands and Switzerland, the  National Centre for Disease Control said on its Twitter account.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria has also suspended the issuance of visa on arrival to travelers from these countries. All travelers returning from these countries prior to the restriction will be in supervised self-isolation, monitored by the NCDC and Port Health Services,”

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The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha made the same announcement at a media briefing yesterday, Wednesday March 18th. According to Mustapha, the affected countries are countries with over 1,000 cases domestically.

He said the restrictions will come into effect from Friday 20 March 2020 for 4 weeks subject to review.

Mustapha also announced temporary suspension of visas issued to nationals from these countries. He said Nigerians arriving from these countries will be subjected to supervised isolation for 14 days. He advised all Nigerians to avoid travel to these countries.