The Lagos State Government on Friday said it has commenced communicating with 6,500 inbound international travellers who are suspected to have disobeyed the COVID-19 guidelines of the federal and state governments.
The state Commissioner for Information, Mr Akin Abayomi, in a statement on Friday, said a total of 432 suspected defaulters had been cleared after investigation, and 81 confirmed defaulters had been sanctioned and fined by the mobile courts.
He said, “The dramatic rise in COVID-19 positive cases seen at the beginning of the fourth wave of infections called for firmer enforcement of guidelines, particularly prosecution of inbound international passengers who fail to submit themselves for Day Two and Day Seven PCR tests, as mandated by the Federal COVID-19 protocols and guidelines.
“As a government, we are determined to halt the alarming trend of defaulters whose actions were responsible for previous waves of the pandemic in Lagos State. We have commenced communicating with 6,500 inbound passengers who are suspected of not being compliant with our guidelines established to protect the community, lives and our economy.
“This process is executed strictly without prejudice, and nobody is exempted. Disregarding the testing and isolation guidelines inevitably introduce new variants of COVID-19 and constitute a state and national public health and security threat which will sabotage all efforts to mitigate and reduce the impact of the fourth wave on citizens and the economy of the State and country.
“We have started submitting the names of those that do not respond to the SMS or emails to the Presidential Steering Committee for the deactivation of their passports for a period of one year.”
The possible list of sanctionable offences according to Abayomi are, not turning up for the Day Two test on arrival in Lagos if fully vaccinated; not turning up for Day Two and Day Seven test plus not self-isolating for seven days for unvaccinated persons on arrival in Lagos; not self-isolating for persons who were diagnosed positive under any circumstances and being in possession of any fake COVID-19 related documents, either PCR tests or vaccination cards.
Others are, entering false data and contact numbers on the travel health form; evading testing on arrival in Lagos by disguising as a child or a diplomat; corporate entities that undermine the state COVID-19 mitigation strategies.
The Commissioner added that travel agents that assist passengers evade the travel guidelines would also attract harsh sanctions
