The Lagos State Government says it has identified and started communicating with about 6,500 inbound international passengers who are suspected to have disobeyed Covid-19 travel guidelines.
This disclosure is contained in a statement signed by the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi, on Friday, where he said that government is determined to stop this alarming trend of defaulters whose actions were responsible for the previous waves of the pandemic in the state.
The statement from Abayomi partly reads, “We have commenced communicating with 6,500 inbound passengers who are suspected of not being compliant with our guidelines established to protect the community, lives and our economy.’’
The Lagos State Government revealed that it had activated a mobile court for defaulters of the mandatory COVID testing for arriving travellers, peddlers of fake certificates and persons refusing to isolate on arrival into the country.
The commissioner said that the move is part of efforts to halt the alarming trend of defaulters whose actions were responsible for previous increasing waves of the pandemic in Lagos State.
He said, “In response to this civil disobedience of our citizens, on the 14th of December Lagos State publicly announced the activation of the mobile court for defaulters of mandatory COVID testing for arriving travellers, peddlers of fake certificates and persons refusing to isolate,” the statement read in part.
“The announcement and activation of the prosecution of defaulters by mobile courts resulted in a sudden trend in travellers complying with the requisite Day-Two and Day-Seven testing, isolation protocols and other guidelines, causing an almost doubling of our testing volumes per day. This is a very encouraging development. The more test the better we can prevent community transmission.
“Many more positive inbound travellers were identified, and many more persons observed the isolation protocols resulting in better control of importation and spread into and within the community.
“As a government, we are determined to halt the alarming trend of defaulters whose actions were responsible for previous waves of the pandemic in Lagos State.’’
The Lagos State Government which is regarded as the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak in the country has been at the forefront of the fight against travellers who flout the Covid-19 travel protocol of the federal and state governments.
Recall that earlier in December 2021, the state government announced that foreigners flouting Covid-19 guidelines may be deported as well as warned that Nigerian residents flouting new travel protocols will be prosecuted.
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