The Federal Government has temporarily suspended the issuance of visas on arrival.

The action was taken on Wednesday in a bid to control the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The move comes after the Federal Government on Wednesday restricted 13 countries from entering the country.

In a statement by the Presidential Task Force on COVID -19 which was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari on March 17, “The Federal Government of Nigeria is restricting entry into the country for travellers from the following thirteen (13) countries; China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland. These are all countries with over 1,000 case domestically;

“All persons arriving in Nigeria who might have visited these countries, 15 days prior to such arrival, will be subjected to supervised self-isolation and testing for 14 days.

“The Federal Government is temporarily suspending the issuance of all visas on arrival.

“The Federal Government is also counseling all Nigerians to cancel or postpone all non-essential travels to these countries; and

“The Federal Government urges Public Health Authorities of countries with a high burden to conduct diligent departure screening of passengers and also endorses this travel advisory to their nationals to postpone travels to Nigeria”.

The statement further added that these restrictions will take immediate effect from Saturday, March 21, 2020, for four weeks subject to review.