The Federal Government of Nigeria has safely evacuated and returned home, two hundred and forty-seven Nigerians who were stranded in Malaysia and Thailand.  

The returnees were evacuated with a chartered Air Peace flight APK-7813 which arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at about 11p.m. on Saturday. 

EVACUATION UPDATE.

Chartered @airpeace flight APK-7813 conveying 247 stranded Nigerians from Malaysia and Thailand arrived Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at exactly 2300HRS, 11th of July 2020.

Some passengers disembarked in Abuja..
1/2 pic.twitter.com/rAWrIBa69N

— Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (@nidcom_gov) July 12, 2020

According to Mr Gabriel Odu, the Head of Media and Public Relations Unit of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) who spoke to NAN, some of the returnees disembarked in Abuja, while the others proceeded to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. 

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In line with the protocols announced by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, all of the returnees presented a negative COVID-19 test result before boarding the evacuation flight, and upon arriving Nigeria, are expected to proceed on a 14-day self-isolation.  

Since four weeks ago, from the federal government, through the ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the resumption of evacuation flights, hundreds of stranded Nigerians have been returned home to their families from different countries including the United States of America, United Kingdom, Egypt, Malaysia and Thailand.  

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The returnees bear the cost of their flight tickets and are expected to self-isolate for four weeks, upon their return to Nigeria. Returnees who receive a clean bill of health after the isolation, are given their passports and allowed to go home.  

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continue to record significant increase as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 31,987 confirmed cases.

On the 11th of July 2020, 664 new confirmed cases and 15 deaths were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 2,609 samples across the country.

To date, 31987 cases have been confirmed, 13,103 cases have been discharged and 724 deaths have been recorded in 36, states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 178,265 tests have been carried out as of July 11th, 2020 compared to 175,656 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 11th July 2020,

• Total Number of Cases – 31,987
• Total Number Discharged – 13,103
• Total Deaths – 724
• Total Tests Carried out – 178,265

According to the NCDC, the 664 new cases are reported from 18 states- Lagos (224), FCT (105), Edo (85), Ondo (64), Kaduna (32), Imo (27), Osun (19), Plateau (17), Oyo (17), Ogun (17), Rivers (14), Delta (11), Adamawa (10), Enugu (7), Nassarawa (6), Gombe (3), Abia (3), Ekiti (3).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 12,275, followed by Abuja (2,538), Oyo (1,706), Edo (1,678), Delta (1,359), Rivers (1,357), Kano (1,303), Ogun (1,080),  Kaduna (978), Ondo (670), Katsina (655), Borno (586), Gombe (530), Bauchi (519), Plateau (516), Ebonyi (508), Enugu (476), Abia (405),  Imo (386), Jigawa (321).

Kwara state has recorded 311 cases, Bayelsa (299), Nasarawa (244), Osun (231), Sokoto (153), Niger (135), Akwa Ibom (134), Benue (121), Adamawa (110), Anambra (93), Kebbi (86), Zamfara (76), Yobe (62), Ekiti (49), Taraba (27), while Kogi and Cross River state have recorded 5 cases each.

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Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two-weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020.

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The Port Harcourt International Airport formally resumed flight operations on Saturday, July 11, with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), restating its commitment towards a zero coronavirus transmission.

This was disclosed by the Regional Manager South-South and South-East of FAAN, Abayomi Akinbinu, on Saturday, July 11, during the arrival of the first flight after 3 months of shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The first flight, which was conducted by Air Peace 5N EUV from Lagos, arrived Port-Harcourt International Airport terminal at 7.50 am.

He said the Port-Harcourt airport management was ready to ensure zero chances of the coronavirus transmission with the management giving no room for default of the COVID-19 safety guidelines by regulatory authorities as flight operations resume at the airport.

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He frowned at the non-adherence to physical distancing rule, while also commending safety compliance level by service providers and passengers at the airport.

According to Abayomi, “Our markings of 1.5 metres apart are visibly on the floor, but maybe because of excitement it’s not being properly followed; so we need to make quick enforcement in that regard.”

He said although there was low turnout of passengers, he expected a gradual increase in the coming days.

He said, “On the departure section, we are gradually getting more passengers and I believe that going forward passengers’ turnout is going to increase. My message to prospective passengers is that the Port Harcourt International Airport terminal is safe.”

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On his own part, the Head of Aviation Medical Clinic of the airport, Dr Nuhu Mwabi, said that the Port Health is seriously conducting mandatory temperature checks on both service providers and passengers before allowing them into the airport terminal building.

Nuhu said, “This is because we want to fish out persons with a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius and above, so that we can isolate such individual. Our cardinal objective is to ensure that we contain the spread of COVID-19 as well as other communicable diseases within the airport.”

He added that the World Health Organization and the various medical teams were ready to professionally handle any suspected case, should the need arise.

It can be recalled that the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had last week announced the resumption schedule for flight operations for the various airports across the country. The Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport resumed flight operations on July 8.