Welcome relief

Editorial

It will be suicidal to toy with any slip, however infinitesimal, at this critical stage in our efforts to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such a gamble can cause a drastic drawback to our modest gains so far in containing the dreaded virus.

To that extent, the shift of the resumption of international flights from August 29 to September 5 is a welcome relief. Both local and international flights were suspended in March, due to the global upheaval over coronavirus.

We salute the postponement. It is well thought-out. It presupposes that the aviation authorities recognise the inadequacies on the ground as they prepare to open the country’s airspace to international flights. The shift will now afford aviation operators and allied agencies ample time to put in place adequate controls or protocols, and perfect all other necessary logistics that will ease flights’ resumption.

Earlier, we were told that our airports had no infrastructure to conduct COVID-19 tests on the bevy of passengers that will be thronging those places (Lagos and Abuja international airports) daily once international flights resume. This, to us, is quite unsettling.

Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Musa Nuhu, had dropped the hint at a briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19. The PTF national coordinator, Dr Sani Aliyu, had observed that the huge number of passengers who would be using the airports daily once international flights resume need to undergo COVID-19 tests before coming to the airports. The NCAA boss, in response, said the airports had no infrastructure to conduct such tests.

“We do not have infrastructure at the airports to deal with this (COVID-19 testing). The airports were never built for such. So, we need to build infrastructure,” Captain Nuhu had said. He added that aviation operators are however comfortable with the subsisting pre-departure Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test protocols. He said they would only need to work closely with the PTF and the Port Health Services to develop the protocols for the testing of passengers coming into the country.

The absence of COVID-19 testing facilities at the airports as we await resumption of international flights appears to be a costly omission because it is akin to opening the door for a possible spike in COVID-19 pandemic.

For one, international airports are the most vulnerable avenues to contract the deadly virus. Moreover, passengers from hardest-hit  countries will be among those who will be jetting in and out of the country once international flights resume. We cannot afford any tardiness at this time, especially in our environment where medical facilities are limited and the personnel on ground are already stretched thin.

It is instructive that many countries, in addition to demanding pre-departure PCR test certificates before admitting passengers into their countries, now require mandatory testing on arrival, especially concerning passengers from COVID-19 heavily ravaged nations.

France, for example, has drawn up a list of 16 such countries whose citizens flying into the country must, in addition to presenting proof of being COVID-19 negative, undergo mandatory testing on arrival.

However, the postponement of the resumption of international flights in Nigeria offers a window of opportunity to correct whatever lapses that could cause upsets as we await the September 5 resumption date.

The subsisting pre-departure and arrival protocols, which have just been revised, require that in-bound and out-bound passengers carry a valid pre-departure medical certificate of PCR test seven days before the day of travel. The medical certificate is revalidated on arrival as the passengers go on self-isolation for seven days.

Passengers are expected to fill a form in which they will supply their personal data, including mobile numbers, residential addresses in Lagos, Abuja or state of residence and other necessary information. Any airline that compromises by carrying any COVID-19 patient is liable to a fine of $3,500.

Social distancing is to be enforced through apron and terminal markings for passengers, while all luggage will be disinfected before they reach the terminal.

But this regime of protocols is likely to be reviewed again because the authorities have promised an updated template of protocols and other logistics. It is, however, hoped that the awaited template will include the provision of COVID-19 testing facilities at both Lagos and Abuja international airports in particular.