The earlier policy of asking returning travellers to self-isolate in their homes, as part of measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 led to increased cases in the country.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, stated this on Thursday during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
For that reason, he said, the protocol was jettisoned and in its place the policy of quarantining returnees on arrival was adopted.
He explained: “We don’t have a provision for isolation at home. At the very beginning, we had that provision that if you came in and did not have a symptom, you isolate at home.
“Since then, all the cases we are dealing with now came in and multiplied. In order to reduce the incidence of cases coming in and then forming clusters of new infections, the provision has now changed to what we call isolation-one or quarantine.
“The policy we have now is that anybody arriving Nigeria from anywhere whether by air, land or by sea will go into quarantine for 14 days.
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“Quarantine is for those who have not been confirmed or who are under isolation. If during the period, signs and symptoms show up, they will be tested.
“If they are positive they will go to treatment centres. If after 14 days they show no symptoms or signs and they are tested and are negative, they are free to go. That is the protocol we have now.”
Recall that some of the early cases of the disease recorded in Nigeria were in people who had returned from countries with reported cases of the virus.
Nigeria’s index case was an Italian citizen who entered Nigeria in February from Milan, Italy on a business visit.
However, the country is now witnessing community transmission.
As of Thursday night, Nigeria has recorded 3,526 cases of COVID-19, 601 discharges and 107 deaths.
