Ban UK flights now – Atiku warns Buhari

Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President, has called on the Nigerian government to immediately halt flights to and from the UK now in view of outbreak of new strain of COVID-19 in their land.

A fast-spreading variant of COVID-19 in the UK has raised fear as some countries have already banned flights to and from the UK.

However, Atiku in series of tweets said the reason Nigeria took a harder than necessary hit during the first wave of the COVID-19 virus was that the Federal Government failed to heed the warnings of well-meaning Nigerians, like himself and others, to shut down the nation’s borders once the virus became a pandemic.

“Nevertheless, we must learn from history, or we stand the risk of repeating it. The new strain of COVID19 that has erupted in the United Kingdom, and specifically, London, can add to Nigeria’s health emergency if we do not act with an abundance of caution and temporarily halt all flights to and from the UK until this new strain is brought under control,” he said.

According to him, some nations had already taken prompt action by halting flights to and from UK.  He said Nigeria must take necessary precautions due to the volume of air traffic between her and the UK.

”Already, prudent nations are taking prompt action, and Nigeria must take necessary precautions due to the volume of air traffic between Nigerian airports and London, where this new strain has erupted.

“We must face the reality that our health sector is not sufficiently prepared to handle a sudden and unpredictable surge of this pandemic.

“We have already lost lives needlessly. We need not lose more. In the case of this virus, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” he stated.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Britain surged by 35,928 on Sunday, official data showed, the highest daily rise since the start of the pandemic. There were also 326 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, lower than the 534 recorded on Saturday.

The government has toughened restrictions in London and southeast England to try to curb the spread of a new, fast-spreading variant of the virus.