Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has called on the Nigerian government to immediately halt flights to and from the UK now in view of outbreak of new strain of COVID-19 in their land.
A fast-spreading variant of COVID-19 in the UK has raised fear as some countries have already banned flights to and from the UK.
However, Atiku in series of tweets said the reason Nigeria took a harder than necessary hit during the first wave of the COVID-19 virus was that the Federal Government failed to heed the warnings of well-meaning Nigerians, like himself and others, to shut down the nation’s borders once the virus became a pandemic.
“Nevertheless, we must learn from history, or we stand the risk of repeating it.
”The new strain of COVID19 that has erupted in the United Kingdom, and specifically, London, can add to Nigeria’s health emergency if we do not act with an abundance of caution and temporarily halt all flights to and from the UK until this new strain is brought under control,” he said.
According to him, some nations had already taken prompt action by halting flights to and from UK.
He said Nigeria must take necessary precautions due to the volume of air traffic between her and the UK.
”Already, prudent nations are taking prompt action, and Nigeria must take necessary precautions due to the volume of air traffic between Nigerian airports and London, where this new strain has erupted.
“We must face the reality that our health sector is not sufficiently prepared to handle a sudden and unpredictable surge of this pandemic.
“We have already lost lives needlessly. We need not lose more. In the case of this virus, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” he stated.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Britain surged by 35,928 on Sunday, official data showed, the highest daily rise since the start of the pandemic.
There were also 326 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, lower than the 534 recorded on Saturday.
The government has toughened restrictions in London and southeast England to try to curb the spread of a new, fast-spreading variant of the virus.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed a full lockdown on London and large parts of southeast England and told the public across the country to avoid travel, in a desperate attempt to stop a new strain of coronavirus that is spreading rapidly in the U.K.
After emergency talks with his most senior officials, Johnson canceled plans to ease pandemic restrictions for five days during the holiday. Household mixing will be banned in London and the south-east, and socializing restricted to just Christmas Day across the rest of England.
The premier announced a new Tier 4 will apply in the hot-spot areas around the capital from Sunday, with all non-essential shops closing, millions of people ordered to stay at home and all foreign travel banned except for essential purposes. Johnson urged people across England to “stay local” and not travel far. He promised the new rules will be reviewed on Dec. 30.
“When the virus changes its method of attack we must change our method of defense,” Johnson said at a news conference. “Without action the evidence suggests infections would soar, hospitals would become overwhelmed and many thousands more would lose their lives.”
The dramatic escalation in the government’s pandemic response was triggered by a new strain of the virus that is virtually unique to the U.K. Emerging scientific evidence suggests the new strain can spread significantly more quickly than previous strains in circulation and is behind a huge surge in infections in recent days.
COVID-19 case rates nearly doubled in London over the past week, with almost 60% of these infections attributed to the new strain of the virus, according to government officials.
European nations have begun to impose travel bans on the UK after it reported a more-infectious and “out of control” coronavirus variant.
Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium are all halting flights. The measures vary and are initially short-term but the French rules also affect Channel freight.
An EU meeting on Monday morning will discuss a more co-ordinated response.
The new variant has spread quickly in London and south-east England.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday introduced a new tier four level of restrictions for those areas, scrapping a planned relaxation of rules over the Christmas period for millions of people.
Top health officials said that there was no evidence the new variant was more deadly, or would react differently to vaccines, but it was proving to be up to 70% more transmissible.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new strain “was out of control. We have got to get it under control”, admitting that this was “an incredibly difficult end to frankly an awful year”.
Which countries have acted and how?
Within hours of the UK announcement on Saturday, the Netherlands said it would ban all passenger flights from the UK until 1 January.
Later on Sunday it said it would also bar ferry passengers arriving from the UK, although freight would continue.
The country on Sunday reported a daily increase of more than 13,000 cases – a new record, despite tough lockdown measures being applied on 14 December.
As Sunday wore on, major new restrictions were imposed by key European nations.
France suspended all travel links, including freight lorries, with the UK for 48 hours from midnight on Sunday (23:00 GMT).
Thousands of lorries move between the countries every day.
In response to France’s ban, Eurotunnel said it would suspend access to its Folkestone terminal from 22:00 GMT for traffic heading to Calais. People booked to travel on Monday can get a refund. Trains will still run from Calais to Folkestone.
The ferry terminal at Dover is now closed for all accompanied traffic leaving the UK until further notice because of the French restrictions.
The freight issue has become so pressing that Mr Johnson will chair a COBRA emergency response meeting on the matter on Monday.
In Ireland, which has significant passenger traffic with the UK at this time of year, the government announced that flights arriving from England, Wales and Scotland would be banned for 48 hours at least from midnight, and “in the interests of public health, people in Britain, regardless of nationality, should not travel to Ireland, by air or sea”.
Ferry crossings for freight would continue.
In Germany, an order from the ministry of transport said planes from the UK would not be allowed to land after midnight on Sunday, although cargo would be an exception. Health Minister Jens Spahn said the UK variant had not yet been detected in Germany.
Belgium suspended flights and train arrivals from the UK from midnight on Sunday for at least 24 hours as a “precautionary measure”.
Italy is blocking all flights from the UK until 6 January. The first case of the UK variant has also been detected in Italy, the health ministry reported on Sunday. The patient is in isolation in Rome.
Austria is to ban flights from the UK. Bulgaria has suspended flights to and from the UK from midnight but, unlike the short-term measures in many other nations, its ban lasts until 31 January.
Turkey has temporarily banned all flights from the UK as has Switzerland.
A European Council meeting will be held at 10:00 GMT on Monday on co-ordinating EU actions.