By admin

Canada’s Ministry of Health has confirmed two cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in two individuals who recently travelled from Nigeria to the country.

A statement by Ontario Ministry of Health said the two travellers had already been isolated.

“Today, the province of Ontario has confirmed two cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Ottawa, both of which were reported in individuals with recent travel from Nigeria”, the ministry said.

“Ottawa Public Health is conducting case and contact management and the patients are in isolation.

“In addition to the measures recently announced, we continue to urge the federal government to take the necessary steps to mandate point-of-arrival testing for all travellers irrespective of where they’re coming from to further protect against the spread of this new variant,” it said.

Also, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos also confirmed Canada’s first two cases in a statement on Sunday evening, saying he is working with the province’s public health officials to contact trace the cases.

“As the monitoring and testing continues with provinces and territories, it is expected that other cases of this variant will be found in Canada.”

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has labelled the Omicron variant as a variant of concern.

Persecondnews recalls that it was first reported by South African scientists with over 100 cases already logged.

To contain its spread, the EU, U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, UAE have announced travel ban on Southern African countries

By Favour Nnabugwu

A total number of 91, out of 147, identified owners and operators of private jets have failed a verification test conducted by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) in October.

Under a directive from the Federal Government, Comptroller-General of Customs, Col Hameed Ali, (retd.), has issued a letter to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency to ground the said private jets immediately.

Owners of 62 jets refused to attend the mandatory verification exercise. A total of 86 private jets and aircraft operators showed up and only 57 were verified as commercial charter operators.

“29 other private jets/aircraft were found liable for payment of Customs duty,” said Comptroller Joseph Attah, Public Relations Officer of Customs. The NCS issued a 14-day ultimatum for payment of duties and submission of verification papers back in October.

Some unidentified sources in NCS disclosed that the senior Pentecostal churches pastors, the chief executive officers of several indigenous oil companies, and the chairmen of some top tier banks are among these owners.

NCS further revealed that the refusal to pay import duties by these 91 owners is running to over N30bn. Several of these owners have sent protest letters to the NCS, stating that they cannot pay import duties on the planes because they are under lease payments.

Furthermore, several aviation sources said that the Ministry of Aviation is showing strong indications that it has directed the suspension of the grounding of the flight operations.

By Favour Nnabugwu

Air Peace airline has announced the resumption of flights to Dubai through Sharjah with effect from December 1, following the restoration of flights between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates, UAE

A statement from the airline management yesterday read : ” Air Peace is delighted to inform the flying public that it will be resuming its Dubai service via Sharjah on December 1, 2021.This is consequent upon Federal Government’s lifting of the ban on flights from and to the UAE.”

” Customers are urged to comply with all established COVID-19 protocols governing international air travel and cooperate with airport staff in this regard.”

Recall the federal government and United Arab Emirates, UAE, on Friday agreed to restore flights between both countries. Flights were suspended in March following disagreement over covid-19 protocol.

The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika who disclosed the latest development on Friday night in Abuja said that the ban was lifted after Emirates airlines removed its stringent conditions slammed on Nigerian travellers.

Also the United Arab Emirates, in its latest Coronavirus protocol released on Saturday dropped the Rapid Antigen Test (RDT) for COVID-19 as prerequisite for travelling to the Middle East country for Nigerians and some other countries.

A statement dated November 26, 2021, issued by the Aviation Business Management Team-Dubai Airports, indicated that ” RDT would no longer be required for all flights effective from Saturday November 27, 2021 at 00.0 hours, for passengers travelling to Dubai from the following countries: the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Republic of Uganda, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of Zambia.”

By Favour Nnabugwu

The federal government and United Arab Emirates, UAE, have agreed to restore flights between both countries. Flights were suspended in March following disagreement over covid-19 protocol.

The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika who disclosed the latest development  on Friday night in Abuja said that the ban was lifted after Emirates airlines removed its stringent conditions slammed on Nigerian travellers.

Also the United Arab Emirates, in its latest Coronavirus protocol released yesterday, dropped the Rapid Antigen Test (RDT) for COVID-19 as prerequisite for travelling to the Middle East country for Nigerians and some other countries.

A statement dated November 26, 2021, issued by the Aviation Business Management Team-Dubai Airports, indicated that ” RDT would no longer be required for all flights effective from Saturday November 27, 2021 at 00.0 hours, for passengers travelling to Dubai from the following countries: the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Republic of Uganda, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of Zambia.”

According to the statement inbound passengers, who are eligible to travel to Dubai…should comply with the following conditions: “The passenger(s) shall present a valid negative COVID-19 test certificate that is issued within the valid time frame, namely, (72) hours from the time of collecting the sample and from the approved health service that uses QR code system.

“Passenger(s) shall undergo a PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) upon arrival at Dubai Airports.

“No approval is required from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) or from General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) for the passengers from the aforesaid countries, to enter Dubai. No rapid PCR test report is required.

“The airlines shall ensure and/or verify the compliance of the above requirement(s) prior to passenger(s) boarding the aircraft and shall not accept any passenger(s) who does not fulfill the aforesaid condition(s) and/or requirements,” the statement said.

It  further stated that ” air carriers that fail and or neglect to comply with the measures set out in this decision would be subjected to the fines and measures stipulated in Clause 37 of Schedule No (7) the Executive Council Resolution No. (4) of the 2017 Approving Fees and Fines of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), considering that adherence to the provision of DCAA circular No. (1) of 2021, is strictly required for airlines to continue practicing air transport activity arriving to or transiting through Dubai.”

With the new protocol, UAE has dropped the RDT test, which caused a disagreement between Nigeria and the Arab country thus forcing Emirates to stop operating to Nigeria when the federal government insisted that it must not conduct RDT on Nigerian passengers four hours before their flight as well as insisting that the 72 hours PCR test must be accepted by the airline.

By Favour Nnabugwu

West and Central Africa’s largest carrier, Air Peace, has taken delivery of two Airbus 320s to boost its domestic and regional operations, especially as Yuletide approaches.

The two 162-seater aircraft, with 12 Business Class seats and 150 Economy seats each, arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, around 20:00hrs on Thursday, November 25, 2021.

Spokesperson of Air Peace, Stanley Olisa,  who confirmed the acquisition said: “The two A320s will be deployed to boost both domestic and regional connectivity for our esteemed customers, as the Yuletide draws near”.

He added that the new A320s will help the airline in its drive to meet the growing travel demand in the Nigerian and larger West African markets while it expects to take delivery of more Embraer 195-E2 airplanes.

Olisa stated: “Air Peace is committed to reducing the air travel burden of Nigerians and these new airplanes are a testament to this commitment”.

Recently, Air Peace had assured the flying public of ample flights as it will be rolling out schedules for the festive period very soon, adding that more aircraft are coming in- both those on maintenance and a brand new Embraer 195-E2 jet.

The airline had also revealed that it will be deploying its wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft to meet the increased demand characteristic of the festive period.

Air Peace currently services 19 domestic routes, 6 regional routes and 2 international destinations, including Johannesburg, while it boasts of a varied fleet of 30 aircraft, the latest being four brand new 124-seat capacity Embraer 195-E2 jets.