Foreign airlines implement yellow card directive, scores stranded in Heathrow
- Policy to eliminate peddled fake document
Acting on the Federal Government’s directive that foreign airlines operating into the country should ensure all visitors to the country present their electronic yellow fever cards, many carriers are said to be denying travelers boarding.
A travel tour operator who spoke to Woleshadarenews under condition of anonymity said her sister and several other people who had travelled to the United Kingdom and other destinations were denied boarding at Heathrow Airport, London because they were not armed with the new electronic yellow fever cards.
The source stated that the breakout of the deadly coronavirus had further made airlines to scrutinize the travel document.
All travellers are required to present proof of the Yellow Fever vaccination certificate at the port of entry into the country.
The Yellow Fever card is an important document which is given to a person after getting a vaccine against Yellow Fever.
Following the declaration by the Federal Government in Nigeria that the old Yellow Fever card will no longer be acceptable from July 1, 2019, the government of Nigeria introduced a new electronic Yellow Fever card (the “E-Yellow Card”). The E-Yellow Card is issued by the Ministry of Health Vaccination Centre.
Nigeria has a high risk of YFV transmission due to the environment and mosquitoes. A traveler cannot enter Nigeria or gain entry into some countries from Nigeria unless with a valid YFV certificate and must have been vaccinated at least 10 days prior to the departure date.
The new electronic yellow card comes with some advanced security features that will make it easy to detect whether the card was obtained through the approved channel or not. Also, the machine-readable card will make it possible to store the vaccination history of the holder.
Proof of vaccination is required for travelers in transit through countries with risk of yellow fever transmission, where such transit is above 12 hours. It is mandatory for foreigners living in Nigeria to also obtain the new “electronic yellow card”.
The source stated that her sister got to Heathrow Airport this morning trying to board her flight to Lagos but refused to be picked by the airline because she was not in possession of the new document.
She stated that there had been a directive from the Nigerian government asking for anyone coming into Nigeria to produce a yellow card she said doubles or suffice as a certificate of clean bill of health.
Her words, “Several of us who were not in possession of our Yellow Cards were turned away. Many people ended up sitting at the airport because some of them had nowhere to go because they have finished spending all their money they came to London with or wherever they went to”.
“I know some airlines have not implemented it but several airlines have or are on the way to implementing it. Just to let us know that Yellow card is a necessity to get back to Nigeria in line with the coronavirus. That is the directive from the Nigerian government”.
Google+
