(3 minutes read)
- Airlines have prevailed on governments globally to review mandatory COVID-19 test requirements for vaccinated passengers
- This, they said. would ease the burden of cost and lift artificial barriers to air connectivity.
- International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global apex body of airlines said scientific evidence no longer supported the safety objectives of pre-departure COVID-19 tests for all travellers
- In the name of COVID-19, racketeering has assumed a revenue-driven motive for the governments and private sector operators rather than for public health purposes
Airlines have prevailed on governments globally to review mandatory COVID-19 test requirements for vaccinated passengers. This, they said. would ease the burden of cost and lift artificial barriers to air connectivity.
International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global apex body of airlines, said scientific evidence no longer supported the safety objectives of pre-departure COVID-19 tests for all travellers. Same was the case for blanket quarantine, self-isolation at destinations, coupled with travel bans in some parts of the world. In a terse statement, the airline’s association said that in the name of COVID-19, racketeering has assumed a revenue-driven motive for the governments and private sector operators rather than for public health purposes.
Mentioning that the implication of those ill-thought out measures would be severe on the travelling public who pay an average of N200, 000 for four sessions of COVID-19 testing per trip, the association called for discontinuing such measures. A return-trip overseas requires four sessions of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. At the rate of N50, 000 per test in Lagos, a traveller will have to incur an additional N200, 000 on the trip.
