Turkish Airlines says it has cancelled all flights to Nigeria. The airline flies to Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt in Nigeria.
The airline, which brought the Coronavirus Italian index case into Lagos, Nigeria on February 27, said it took the decision due to outbreak of coronavirus in the country.
It said in a statement, Tuesday that the cancellations would affect flights scheduled to arrive Lagos on March 17, 23 and 29th, while flights for Abuja scheduled for March 13, 16th, 20th, 25th, 27th and April 1, 2020. Also, flights for Port-Harcourt will not operate on March 11, 13th, 18th, 25th and 25th.
The carrier did not state when it will resume flights to Nigeria, which announced her second coronavirus case on Monday, but stated that the action was taken “in view of the corona virus situation all over the world”.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) had predicted that airlines face a loss of over $113 billion globally as a result of the deadly coronavirus.
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Monday, announced that the country had recorded a second case of coronavirus. The new case is one of those in contact with the index case in Ogun State.
NCDC stated, “The Federal Ministry of Health, following best practice, decided to test these persons for possible presence of coronavirus in their systems. On 8th March 2020, scientists confirmed the presence of coronavirus in one of the contacts. It is my duty therefore to announce a new case of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria The newly confirmed case is an Ogun State contact of the index case, but he has no significant clinical symptoms. This brings the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria today to two.”
