NCAA Says No Infrastructure at Airports for COVID-19 Test

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority NCAA has said there was no infrastructure to conduct the COVID-19 test on passengers when the international flight operations start on August 29, 2020.

Musa Nuhu, the Director-General, NCAA, disclosed this on Monday while speaking at the President Task Force on COVID-19 Monday’s briefing.

It would be recalled that about five months ago, the federal government stopped international airlines from operating in the country to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

However, with the world finally finding a way to live with the dangerous virus, the Buhari-led administration has joined other global leaders in opening the nation’s air space for international flight operations.

While the Federal Government is expected to deploy COVID-19 testing kits across the nation’s international airports to access the health status of intending travelers and protect cabin crew from contracting COVID-19, the NCAA has said the necessary infrastructure to effectively carry out COVID-19 test is not in place and has to be built from the scratch.

According to PTF, close to 10,000 passengers will be using the airports daily once the operation starts and it would be necessary for them to undergo COVID-19 test.

Nuhu said that operators in the aviation sector were in support of the pre-departure test protocol set out by the Presidential Task Force (PTF)

He said “This entails working closely with the national coordinator and the Port Health Services to develop protocols for testing (of passengers) coming to Nigeria.

“The aviation sector is quite comfortable and agrees with the protocols of the pre-departure PCR test. We are quite comfortable with that.

“In addition to that, we do not have infrastructure at the airports to deal with this. The airports were never built for such. So we need to build infrastructure.”

Airlines are warned not to board COVID-19 patients under any circumstances, such action would attract a fine of $3,500.