Nigeria and Ghana have lifted COVID-19 restrictions following a declining number of cases and reduced risk of importation of new variants.
In Nigeria, the Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, who announced this on Wednesday in Abuja, said the nationwide midnight curfew and limitations on gatherings as well as restrictions have also been lifted.
Persecondnews.com recalls that Nigeria recorded 3,142 deaths from 255,468 cases since the start of the pandemic in 2020 according to data obtained from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control website.
He said: “The removal of restrictions was decided in view of the declining number of cases, reduced risk of importation of new variants as well as the availability of vaccines
“The nationwide curfew imposed from midnight to 04:00 am has been lifted. Advisory limiting Nigerians to essential travels only has been lifted.”
The government had earlier asked civil servants to go back to their offices with proof of vaccination or a PCR test of not more than 48 hours.
In the statement, private companies were asked to continue implementing measures to limit the spread of the virus at work.
The limitation on the number of persons and 50 per cent limit on persons attending religious gatherings was also lifted but attendees must use face masks.
In Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo and Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority, also announced the re-opening of land and sea borders and the lifting of most of the COVID-19 restrictions.
In his 28th nationwide COVID-19 address, the president said the decision was made after reviewing the raft of measures put in place to help win the fight against the virus, against the background of rapidly declining infections, and the relative success of the vaccination campaign by the Ghana Health Service.
“From Monday, the wearing of face masks is no longer mandatory.
“I encourage all of you to continue to maintain enhanced hand hygiene practices and avoid overcrowded gatherings.
“All in-person activities, including religious gatherings, conferences, workshops, and funerals, may resume at full capacity, as long as the audience and participants are fully vaccinated, but hand washing and hand sanitizing points should be made available.
“Fully vaccinated travelers will be allowed entry through the land and sea borders without a negative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test result from the country of origin.
“It has been a difficult two years, and we see light at the end of a very long tunnel. I appeal to all of us to live responsibly, protect ourselves, and do everything we can to stay safe as we lift these restrictions,” Akufo-Addo said.
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