PTF places travel ban on 100 Nigerians for evading COVID-19 tests

The presidential taskforce on COVID-19 has released the passport numbers of 100 Nigerians who refused to undergo the mandatory COVID-19 test after returning to the country.

In a tweet on Saturday, the taskforce said it had placed travel restrictions on the affected passengers for failing to comply with COVID-19 travel guidelines.

Travellers are mandated to run the test seven days after their arrival.

At its December 24 briefing on Thursday, National Coordinator of the PTF, Sani Aliyu, had said the passport holders would be suspended from travelling for a minimum of six months adding that the visas of foreigners who evade the mandatory test would be revoked.

At the time, Aliyu said the 100 affected persons have been contacted and they have confirmed that they failed to do the post-arrival test.

The Lagos State Government has also threatened to deactivate the passports of travellers refusing to comply with COVID-19 testing protocols.

Lagos is the epicentre of the pandemic in Nigeria.

The state Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, had said there was an increase in positive cases of inbound travellers “as Nigerians in diaspora return to spend Christmas in Lagos”.

He said many travellers paid for COVID-19 tests but refused to show up at the testing centres.