Israel evacuated 274 of its citizens from Nigeria on Sunday.

The move was not unconnected to the exploding cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria.

The Israelis were evacuated via the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to Tel-Aviv, Israel.

The flight, operated with the Air Peace’s Boeing 777-300, left Lagos with 65 passengers and airlifted 209 others from Abuja before departing the country.

Although closed to international flights as part of measures to forestall further importation of coronavirus, emergency flights such as this are allowed to operate at the MMIA and NAIA.

As of 6pm on Sunday, Nigeria has 97 cases of COVID-19 with one recorded death while Israel has 3,865 cases and 81 deaths.