Concerns have been raised about South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to Nigeria following the outbreak of a new strain of COVID-19 in South Africa and the travel restrictions imposed on Southern African countries by several countries.
Barring any last-minute changes, President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to receive Ramaphosa and other top government officials from his administration during their three-day visit to Nigeria between November 29 and December 1.
South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported 22 positive cases linked to the new strain of COVID-19, with the percentage testing positive “increasing rapidly.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) designated the strain B.1.1.529 as a “variant of concern” and dubbed it “Omicron.”
So far, the heavily mutated new variant has been found in South Africa, Botswana, and Hong Kong.
The 27-member European Union as well as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates have imposed travel bans on citizens of Southern African countries.
The EU executive “will propose, in close coordination with member states, to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the southern African region due to the variant of concern B.1.1.529,” said EU chief Ursula Von der Leyen on Friday.
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden are all members of the EU.
The United States announced on Friday that it would restrict travel from eight southern African countries due to concerns about the new variant, which had been dubbed Nu but has now been renamed Omicron.
A senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration reportedly stated that travel from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi would be mostly prohibited beginning Monday (tomorrow).
Also read: Coronavirus variant in South Africa: More countries tighten travel restrictions
Only US citizens and permanent residents will be able to travel from the eight countries, however.
Over concerns about the variant, Canada also barred visitors from seven African countries: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, and Zimbabwe were also placed on the UK’s red list, which meant that direct flights from the six countries were prohibited from Friday until Sunday (today) at 4 a.m.
Passengers arriving from these countries beginning today at 4 a.m. would be required to book and pay for a 10-day stay in a government-approved hotel quarantine facility.
Following the discovery of a new strain of COVID-19, Nigerians are concerned about Ramaphosa’s planned visit.
“What is the federal government’s quandary regarding the visit?” Is Nigeria going to receive the South African President and other officials when other countries have banned South African visitors? Will the federal government tell them not to come? “Under what structure will they come?” asked a top official of the Nigerian Medical Association.
This will be President Ramaphosa’s first official visit to Nigeria as the substantive president since his election three years ago.
He had visited Nigeria as acting president in 2018, following the resignation of former President Jacob Zuma.
There are approximately 120 South African firms in Nigeria, including the telecommunications behemoth, MTN, and DSTV, whose parent company, Multichoice, remains the country’s leading player in the cable TV ecosystem.
However, only a few Nigerian companies are active in South Africa.
