The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has announced that over 2,000 persons have now been tested for COVID-19 in the country.
He said he was working with state commissioners of health to identify more isolation and treatment centres, which would be accredited by a select-committee.
The minister also urged retired medical workers to ready themselves to be called up if necessary to help in the effort to curb the pandemic.
Ehanire stated: “As of now, well over 2,000 persons have been tested with the hope of further expanding and improving diagnostic capacity across board, to shorten turnaround time and increase volume.
“Since this week, two more laboratories were added to NCDC network of molecular laboratories for COVID-19 at University College Hospital Ibadan and Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, increasing test sites to seven to start scaling up testing capacity with hope of even further increase, when human resources are mobilized for round-the-clock shift duty.
“A call is hereby issued for certified public health Lab. scientists, including Retirees, to indicate readiness for duty by sending an email to NCDC or using the call lines.
“No Rapid Diagnostic Tests offered in the open market have been validated by the World Health Organization: the results they give are unreliable. You have to be tested in one of Nigeria’s presently seven COVID-19 molecular laboratories, to have valid results.
“Vaccines against Coronavirus are still a long way off, so that interventions such as social distancing and self-isolation are all we have to curb the spread of the disease.”
Giving an update on the pandemic, Ehanire remarked that as 1st of April 2020, Nigeria has recorded 139 confirmed COVID-19 cases. 82 are in Lagos, 28 in FCT, 8 in Oyo, 5 in Osun, 4 in Ogun, 3 in Kaduna, 2 each in Bauchi, Edo, and Enugu and 1 each in Benue, Ekiti, and Rivers States. A breakdown of the cases shows that 70% are male, while about 30% are female. The age range is mostly between 30 and 60 years. I must stress that both men and women of all ages can be infected.
He said nine persons have been successfully treated and discharged from hospital and two deaths were on record from COVID-19, adding that both persons had serious underlying ailments which no doubt aggravated their conditions.
He informed that the Federal Ministry of Health was using the window of opportunity of the lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun, to accelerate activities to detect, isolate and treat cases.
“This is important because our ability to achieve the objectives in these states, will largely define our success in slowing the spread of infection in our country,” he declared.
He also revealed that hundreds of ad-hoc staff have been engaged to support the response, noting that Port Health Authority staff previously stationed at the airports were to be deployed to Land border and key interstate roads along with security agencies, to randomly screen and monitor the health status of those travellers allowed to ply the roads, to allay the fears of local authorities, so that local roadblocks at key points in certain states will not be necessary.
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of 70,000 metric tons of grains to be distributed to the poor and most vulnerable to alleviate the consequences of the present lockdown over the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Mr Boss Mustapha, announced this at the daily media briefing of the task force in Abuja on Wednesday.
He also said the president has granted permission for limited operations by oil workers upstream.
Mustapha said the release of the grains was part of the plan to provide some level of comfort to citizens especially in areas where there was the strictest implementation of the restrictions.
He revealed that the first tranche of the grain release would be done in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states.
The SGF said: “The President has approved the released 70,000 metric tons of grains from the National Strategic Reserve, for distribution to the poor, the vulnerable and those whose livelihoods will be affected by the lockdown.
“The first tranche of about 6,000 metric tons will go to Lagos, Ogun and the FCT, while the remaining will go to other frontline states in the fight against COVID-19.
“In the continuing effort to ensure very minimal disruption of upstream oil and gas exploration and operation in Nigeria, Mr President has approved limited operations exemptions for operating companies, services and logistics companies in the Nigerian upstream sector.
“They will ensure regular gas supplies to power turbines that supply domestic electricity.”
The PTF also alerted that there were challenges bedeviling security agents’ enforcement of the lockdown order to curtail the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.
It was however happy to report that there had been substantial compliance to the order issued by President Muhammadu Buhari, noting however that dialogue was on to remove the bottlenecks in its implementation particularly in states, which have made their own rules.
Mr Mustapha, who revealed these, announced that the protocols for the lockdown implementation have been developed.
He said: “You will recall that Mr. President in his National broadcast announced a number of restrictions particularly in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja. You will also recall that the PTF met with Security Chiefs to review the Status of Implementation as it affects compliance and enforcement.
“We have received situation reports from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Inter-State traffic across the Country as at Tuesday, 31st March, 2020. Indications are that there was a reasonable level of compliance with the Presidential directive which has led to great reduction of traffic on major highways.
“We have however received reports of challenges arising from the enforcement of the Presidential directives by security agents generally and in States where Governors have also imposed their own measures.
“As we continue to dialogue to remove the bottlenecks, I am pleased to inform you that the PTF has developed an Implementation Guide and Protocols for the COVID-19 Lockdown Policy.
“This document will be widely circulated to all security agencies and will be discussed with sub-national entities for the purpose of building synergy in the fight against the virus.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is heading a special committee of the National Economic Council (NEC) on COVID-19 trying to develop additional measures to alleviate the challenges being faced by Nigerians because of the implications of the global pandemic in the country.
The committee met on Wednesday through video conferencing in an effort to coordinate the Federal and State governments’ responses to the impact of the disease.
Present alongside the Vice President were Governors Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti; Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, Kaduna; Abdullahi Sule, Nasarawa; Mohammed Abubakar, Jigawa; Godwin Obaseki, Edo; David Umahi, Ebonyi; Dapo Abiodun, Ogun; and Atiku Bagudu, Kebbi. The meeting was also attended by the Finance Minister, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed and the Director-General of the Budget Office, Mr Ben Akabueze among several other top officials.
The NEC Committee received the report of its Technical Working Group which proposed an array of policy options and recommendations on how federal, state and local governments can bring relief to the people and take other adequate measures in containing and responding to the adverse economic effects of the pandemic.
Speaking at the meeting, the Vice President emphasized the importance of the assignment and the urgency required, asking that public enlightenment and sensitization on the seriousness of the pandemic should be further intensified at all government levels so that more and more Nigerians would become aware of the compelling and critical dimensions of the situation.
He assured the governors that the FG is already packaging further resources for a comprehensive economic response to alleviate the challenges of the pandemic, support the States and provide succour to Nigerians in a timely and effective manner. He disclosed that the newly created Economic Sustainability Committee (ESW), constituted by the President will also be meeting this week to start its work and respond to the situation appropriately.
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