FG records 5 new cases of Coronavirus

…Confirms first land boarder entry case

…Says Abuja resident doctors strike ill-timed

…Debunks allegation of COVID-19 case in Katsina

The Federal Government on Wednesday confirmed 5 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Nigeria within the last 36 hours.

This development brings the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to 8.

Addressing newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja, Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, explained that of the five new cases, 3 of the confirmed cases involving 2 Nigerians, a mother and her 6 weeks old baby and an American National had arrived from the United States, while 2 who are both Nigerians had arrived from the United Kingdom.

Ehanire, who noted that the American with the confirmed COVID-19 case had entered through the land borders, said he was a motor cyclist adventurer who was going round to see the world with another cyclist.

The Minister, who also explained that one of the confirmed case was located in Ekiti State and four in Lagos State, said they were all being followed up by the state public health officials with support from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) through the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).

Also, a detailed travel history of each person was being compiled even as everyone they have had contact with were being identified and traced.

He said: “The Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) unfortunately confirms 5 new cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria within the last 36 hours, bringing total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to 8.

“Of the 5 new positive cases, 3 arrived from the United States, while 2 came in from the United Kingdom. We are still collating information on the travellers; 2 of the 3 from the US are Nigerians, a mother and child, making the 6 week old baby the youngest COVID-19 patient we have, and the 3rd is an American national, who crossed the land border and becomes the first COVID-19 case not arriving by air. The 2 cases from the UK are Nigerians.

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“The National Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) led by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and supported by partners, is supporting response in the states.

“The Federal Government through Federal Ministry of Health is conducting risk assessment to help guide decision making.”

On the rumoured suspected COVID-19 case in Katsina State, he said the ministry was not aware of such case and if in existence, the public health officials would be informed if there was any such case.

He added that every suspected case of COVID-19 in the North gets tested in the laboratory in Abuja to determine if the person was negative or positive of COVID-19.

Ehanire also lamented that the decision by Abuja Resident doctors to embark on strike over irregularities in the Integrated Payroll Personnel and Information System (IPPIS) at a time when the country was trying to avert a major health crisis, was ill-timed.

“I don’t think it’s a good time to go on strike. You do not choose a time when your country is in emergency and then you create a problem further; that is not a good thing at all. I think that strike is ill-advised and this is a wrong time and they do not get any sympathy for choosing a time like this to withdraw services.”

The Minister, who urged Nigerians to remain calm, gave assurances that besides ongoing measures to heighten surveillance at the airports, relevant authorities would undergo the needed training to equally strengthen surveillance at the land borders.

“Our focus has been on air travel, we do believe if it did come in it would come in by air but the fact that a case was captured through the land borders shows that the vigilance is working and the individual was identified by the system.

“We are working very closely with the immigration services particularly at the land borders where they have control, and we are going to conduct trainings for immigration and customs officials on taking temperatures and identifying people who do not look well and raising their index of suspicion.

“We urge citizens not to panic, but allow experts in public health to guide response in a calculated, scientific manner. False information and rumour to cause fear and panic must be avoided at such times. The COVID-19 cases so far appear to have mild symptoms and are in recovery.

“To protect yourselves and your families, I urge everyone to continue to take care and caution as advised. Government will do the needful to protect citizens’ health.”

The Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, disclosed that a newly developed self isolation guideline would be distributed to all passengers coming into the country to ensure they carry out a proper self isolation exercise to last two weeks after arrival.

He said: “We are advising all returning passengers to Nigeria to self isolate irrespective of where you are coming from for two weeks.

“In addition to that, if you are coming from one of the 13 countries that have a thousand cases or more, we will carry out what we call supervised isolation; that means we follow up with each of them everyday for 14 days.

“You undergo secondary screening at the airport, the department of Ports health services will get detailed information from you and somebody calls each of those persons every day if they are well. If they have symptoms, we then send someone to collect the samples.

“In addition to that, we have just developed a guideline on what self isolation really means so that we can hand out to people coming in step by step what self isolation means”, he added.

The minister added that the ministry at the moment does not have a policy of blanket support for everyone that is being asked to self isolate but that in specific cases where they have been appeals for support, it would render the support.