By Emeka Nze
Federal Government has stepped up efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus after the country confirmed its first case.
Health Minister, Osagie Enahire, who made this known to journalists on Monday in Abuja, called on citizens to avoid panicking or spreading unverified information about the disease.
He said measures being taken include increased screening at border entry points and a public awareness campaign on improved hygiene, “Nigeria is doing everything to contain the virus,” he said.
“We have already started working to identify all the contacts of the patient since he entered Nigeria; we have continued to beef our own security and the level of preparedness continues to improve every day.”
Nigerian authorities last week identified an Italian man who traveled from Milan, Italy as sub-Saharan Africa’s first case of novel coronavirus. He’s been hospitalized in Lagos, the commercial capital, and the government is working on locating people who traveled with the patient, Enahire said. The man, who has since been isolated at a hospital in Yaba, is “clinically stable” and has not developed serious symptoms, according to health officials.
So far, 38 of 156 people who traveled with the man on a Turkish Airlines flight on Feb. 25 have been identified and advised to place themselves in isolation, Enahire added.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has also supported the activation of emergency operation centres to serve as coordination platforms, while its Coronavirus Preparedness Group meets daily to review the situation and manage the response efforts.
The agency has meanwhile issued a public health advisory to inform Nigerians about symptoms and preventive measures, and has provided a toll-free number for guidance.
Nigeria is sub-Saharan Africa’s first country to register a case of the virus, which has killed some 2,900 people and infected more than 86,000 worldwide, the vast majority in China where it originated late last year.