Nigerian medics have expressed concerns over the failure by the government to impose restrictions on travellers from China following a resurgence of Covid-19 in the Asian country, privately owned The Punch website has reported.
China has faced a surge in cases after it recently abandoned its tough Covid-19 measures.
The medics said the country lacked adequate personnel to handle another pandemic as a result of the massive emigration of health workers to other countries.
“We need to act now because we don’t even have enough doctors to handle the current challenges we have in the health sector,” the website quoted National Association of Resident Doctors president Dr Emeka Orji as saying.
Those coming from China must have a negative Covid-19 test or be screened to curb a new wave of the virus in the country, said Prof Oladapo Ashiru, president of the Academy of Medicine Specialities of Nigeria.
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has, however, maintained that travel restrictions have little or no effect on preventing global and national circulation of the virus.
Neighbouring Ghana recently announced that travellers entering the country from China will undergo a mandatory Covid-19 test on arrival.