ADDIS ABABA, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The Eritrean government on Monday banned all forms of internal and foreign travels except for "extremely urgent and unavoidable purposes" amid the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the East African region.
"Although there is no outbreak of COVID-19 in our country so far, the Ministry of Health (MoH) issued the guidelines to all nationals and expatriates residing in the county in view of the rapid spread of the pandemic in our region and the wider world," the Eritrean Ministry of Health disclosed in a statement issued on Monday.
The latest guidelines issued by the Eritrean government stated that "every person should refrain from internal as well as foreign travel unless this is for extremely urgent and unavoidable purposes."
The guidelines also stressed that "every person must avoid, as much as possible, public gatherings," while emphasizing that foreign travel from and to Eritrea "has diminished significantly" on the basis of the first guidelines issued by the ministry last week.
According to the ministry, the ban on foreign travel "will be bolstered further henceforth to fully restrict travel from and to Eritrea except in urgent and unavoidable circumstances."
The ministry also noted that the latest move was made "fully cognizant of the grave danger that the COVID-19 potentially poses to the safety of all nationals as well as expatriates in the country."
The ministry, which noted that it will continue to monitor developments and trends regarding the coronavirus pandemic, also stressed that it would "issue, as necessary, further information and guidelines" as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads cross a growing list of African countries that includes Eritrea's neighboring countries Sudan and Ethiopia.
Last week, the Eritrean government had disclosed that it will quarantine visitors from China, Italy, South Korea and Iran as part of an anti-novel coronavirus measure.
The Eritrea Ministry of Health had also advised visitors of all nationals who may have plans to travel to, and from Eritrea, to postpone their plans voluntarily.
Although, the novel coronavirus disease incidences have been reported in more than 100 countries around the world including several in Africa, Eritrea is among the countries that are yet to record cases of the disease. Enditem
