The government of Nigeria has said the country has lost another patient to coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic ravaging the country.
Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, made this known on Monday during the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The minister announced that 111 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in he country, adding that most of the patients were travellers from the United Kingdom and the United States.
Ehanire added that the highest number of confirmed cases are in Lagos and Abuja because they serve as the major gateways to the country.
He also noted that the government has recalled all retired staff of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Federal Ministry of Health to help fight the pandemic.
Ehanire warned Nigerians to protect the elderly among them, as well as those having underlying health issues as they were the most vulnerable.
He said, “Till date, three persons have been discharged after successful treatment. But sadly, another fatality was recorded over the weekend in the person of a patient who had severe underlying illnesses.
“We have intensified contact tracing and our strategy remains to promptly detect cases, isolate them, and follow up with their contacts and also isolate and treat, in order to reduce the spread of the infection.”
“As of today, the 30th of March, 2020, we have recorded 111 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria of which 68 are in Lagos, 21 in the FCT, seven in Oyo, three in Ogun, two in Bauchi, two in Edo, two in Osun, two in Enugu, and one each in Benue, Ekiti, Kaduna and Rivers States,” he added.
Also speaking, Head of the Task Force and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has set up a committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to attend to the economic challenges that pandemic will bring on the nation.
Mustapha added that the briefing would now be done daily so as to reduce the incidence of fake news in the country and update Nigerians on the effort made by the government to tackle the disease.
