Omicron: Saudi authorities ban inbound aircrafts from Nigeria

Authorities in Saudi Arabia have stopped aircrafts from Nigeria landing at the country’s airports following the emergence of the new Coronavirus variant of Omicron.

The BBC Hausa reported that it has sighted the statement issued by the Saudi authorities on Wednesday, to some airline companies in Nigeria.

According to the report, this action taken by Saudi Arabia made the country the third that barred airlines from Nigeria to land in their countries, after Canada and Britain.

The statement read: “We have stopped flights from Nigeria to enter our country and we’ve stopped all Nigerians from entering Saudi Arabia, either directly or through another country.”

“However, those who stopped over in another country for a period of 14 days after leaving Nigeria, that is only when they will be allowed entry into Saudi Arabia.”

They statement further said that for Saudi citizens coming home from Nigeria, it is compulsory for them to be quarantined for a period of 5 days even if they are certified to have received the corona virus vaccination.

Recall that the authorities in Saudi Arabia had barred people from other countries for lesser Hajj in March last year, and this had made the number of those performing Hajj to reduce following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, when fewer cases of new infections were recorded in Saudi the country decided to relax the restrictions, insisting that only those who have taken the first and second jab of the corona virus vaccine would be allowed entry into the two Holy Masjids in Makkah and Madina.

Since Nigeria and some other countries have recorded cases of Omicron Variant, the authorities of Saudi Arabia has enforced the restrictions of movement from the affected countries.