China COVID surge: Travel restrictions over Omicron had no public health benefit, says NCDC DG

Ifedayo Adetifa, director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has explained why the federal government is not yet considering severe COVID restrictions for travellers arriving from China.

TheCable had reported that China said it will scrap its quarantine measures for inbound travellers from January 8.

Following the announcement, countries began to impose travel restrictions on travellers arriving from China, while on December 28, about 50 percent of passengers on two flights arriving Milan, Italy, from China reportedly tested positive for COVID.

However, the federal government had said there was no reason to impose restrictions on travellers coming to Nigeria from China.

Earlier on Sunday, Femi Falana had also warned the federal government of the consequences of not adopting preventive measures as other countries, especially in the face of China’s recent easing of restrictions.

In a series of tweets on Sunday, Adetifa said Nigeria will consider a review of its current protocol, but insisted that there was no concern that had warranted restrictions on travellers arriving Nigeria from China.

“In Nigeria, @NCDCgov continues with genomic surveillance. The omicron variant was first detected in Dec2021 and has since become the dominant strain. BQ.1/BQ.1.1 and related sub lineages were first seen in Nigeria from July 2022 and BQ.1 became the dominant from Aug2022. BQ.1.1 took over in Sep2022 and persisted since then. None of these were associated with any increases in case numbers, admissions or deaths. We have not detected BF.7 or XBB.1.5 in country yet (sequencing updates for Dec2022 are in progress),” he wrote.

“The Nigerian COVID-19 response continues to be executed via 4 pillars – continued surveillance, genomics surveillance, capacity for surge testing and vaccination. Regardless of SARS-CoV-2 variants in different parts of the world, there continues to be an excess of cases, severe disease, admissions and deaths among the under or unvaccinated and those with established risk factors – old age, cardiovascular and endocrine co-morbidity, immune suppressive states (disease and/or treatments), etc.

“We advise Nigerians to make use of every opportunity the Federal Government has provided via the @NphcdaNG to get vaccinated i.e., receive your primary vaccination which can be two or a single vaccine dose. If you have received two vaccine doses already, go get your booster. If you have received one booster dose already, please go get your second booster dose. If you belong in any of the high-risk categories (old age, etc), kindly ensure you adhere to recommended public health safety measures – mask use, hand hygiene and avoid crowded spaces.

“Recent experience in Nigeria with the arrival of omicron showed travel restrictions did not have any public health benefits but were disruptive for persons and businesses. COVID-19 has and continues to follow a different course (epidemiology in Nigeria and most of Africa).

“Other omicron progeny that were associated with increases in cases, admissions and deaths elsewhere did not cause the same in Nigeria as confirmed by our genomics surveillance. Our population is significantly protected from a combination of natural infection and vaccination.

“The COVID-19 EOC met 31/12/22. Going forward, we will continue to review the ongoing COVID-19 situation over the coming week. At the next review and if deemed necessary, a range of actions, not limited to enhanced surveillance of travellers at airports, may be implemented.”

🧵1/n The @NCDCgov follows global COVID-19 epidemiology including genomics data as part of the ongoing pandemic response. The NCDC COVID-19 EOC continues to function at level 2 alertness – includes weekly risk assessments to inform the need for action e.g., travel restrictions.

— Ifedayo Adetifa (@IfedayoTiffy) January 1, 2023