The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced its suspension of flights from Nigeria following the detection of new COVID-19 variant, Omicron.
There speculation over earlier reports that the kingdom was making arrangements to repatriate Nigerians.
According to Daily Trust, sources in the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Kano state have confirmed that there was an order to restrict flights from Nigeria over Omicron.
An anonymous official of the Saudi Consulate, who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity said there was an order to restrict Nigerian flights in order to check the spread of Omicron in the Kingdom.
Also, an official at the Kano Airport disclosed to the newspaper that a circular was released stating that all lesser Hajj trips should be cancelled as a result of the development.
According to the official, “Yes it is true because a circular was issued that all Lesser Hajj flights should be canceled and there will be no more flights from Nigeria until further notice.
“I think they are following suit the decision of other countries like UK to prevent against having the virus in the kingdom.”
Nigeria presently has recorded six cases of Omicron virus.
