Saudi Arabia is the latest country to have issued a travel ban on travelers from Nigeria due to the Omicron variant.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has joined the list of countries that have declared a travel ban on Nigeria due to the emergence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. There had been speculations around the country about the suspension of travel from Nigeria recently but statements going around indicate that they have. The Middle Eastern country will be joining other Western countries like the United Kingdom and Canada.
Due to the apprehension that has followed the emergence of this new variant that is said to have at least 30 mutations that have made it even more difficult to maintain, governments around the world have been falling into old habits that defined the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. From issuing new lockdown procedures to discussions about forced vaccine mandates, the polity around the world has surely gotten heated. One of the more bizarre scenarios is this travel ban issue.
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The United Kingdom and Canada are the countries that led the way in introducing travel bans on countries around Africa due to South Africa’s declaration on discovering the new variant. Although rising infection numbers have been a mostly European occurrence with countries on the continent having to initiate new lockdown processes to curb their climbing infection rates.
The travel bans when enacted have been directed at countries in Africa that have not even gotten infection rates close to anything being experienced in Europe. This has culminated in a visceral social media reaction by a world bewildered at the undisguised discrimination that informed the policies. With only countries like Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe on the United Kingdom list, despite the highest infection rates having heavyweight names like Germany, France and even The Netherlands being conspicuously absent from the lists.
