Nigeria will ban entry to non-Nigerian passengers who have been in Brazil, India or Turkey in the last fortnight due to concerns over the spread of coronavirus in those three nations, health authorities said on Sunday.

According to a statement from the presidential steering committee on COVID-19, the travel ban does not apply to passengers who have transited through those countries.

"These precautionary measures are a necessary step to minimize the risk of a surge in COVID-19 cases introduced to Nigeria from other countries," the statement said.

Nigerians and permanent residents who have been in those countries in the last 14 days will have to undergo mandatory quarantine for a week in a government-approved facility on arrival, it said.

All passengers arriving in Nigeria will now have to show a negative Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours of travel rather than the previous 96 hours period.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has reported just over 165,000 cases of the coronavirus and 2,063 deaths since the virus first emerged in China at the end of 2019.