With twenty-three confirmed new cases of #COVID19 by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Wednesday, the official number of people infected with the deadly virus is now 174 despite the lockdown order in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja).
According to the NCDC, nine of the new cases were reported in Lagos, seven in the FCT, five in Akwa-Ibom, one each in Kaduna and Bauchi States.
A further breakdown of cases by states showed that Lagos remains the epicentre of the virus with 91 confirmed cases followed by FCT with 35 cases.
Osun has recorded 14 followed by Oyo with 8 cases and Akwa-Ibom 5. Ogun, Edo and Kaduna States have recorded 4 each while Bauchi has 3 confirmed cases. Enugu and Ekiti have recorded 2 each while Rivers and Benue have 1 confirmed cases each.
What FG Has Done to Curb the Spread
The Presidency has listed what the agencies and trained experts of the Federal Government had done to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.
The 50-point listed in the statement signed by the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina also included some of the directives issued by the President in his nationwide broadcast on Sunday.
Some points on the list are: “March 18: The Management of the National Youth Service Corps suspended the 2020 Batch A stream one 21 days orientation exercise indefinitely. The orientation exercise commenced on 10 March and was expected to end on 30 March, before it was suspended after just 8 days.
“March 18: Nigeria placed a travel ban on 13 countries with high cases of the virus namely: United States, United Kingdom, South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, China, Spain, Netherlands, Norway, Japan and Iran.
“March 18: The Nigeria Football Federation suspended all football activities for four weeks; March 19: Nigerian President’s daughter in isolation after returning from Britain; March 20: Nigerian government announced the closure of tertiary educational institutions, secondary and primary.
“March 20: Nigeria extended travel ban to two more countries, Sweden and Austria; March 20: Nigeria announced the closure of international airports in Enugu, Port Harcourt and Kano; March 21: The Nigerian Railway Corporation announced the suspension of all passenger services from 23 March; March 21: Nigeria announced the closure of the remaining two international airports in Abuja and Lagos.
“March 23: The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad ordered all courts in Nigeria to shut down from 24 March; March 23: Nigeria announced the suspension of Federal Executive Council, (FEC) and National Council of State (NCS) meetings indefinitely; March 23: The Independent National Electoral Commission announced the suspension of all activities for 14 days; March 24: The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board suspends activities for two weeks.
“March 27: Federal Government released 10 billion naira to Lagos State, and 5 billion naira special intervention fund to NCDC to equip, expand and provide personnel to its facilities and laboratories across the country.”
Other items are: “Closure of the nation’s international airports and land borders for four weeks in the first instance, to enable the country put up the appropriate policies, processes and infrastructure to cope with suspected and confirmed cases at home, without risking compounding of the situation with more imported cases.
“Only cargo vessels that have been at sea for more than 14days would be allowed to dock in the ports, after the crew have been tested and confirmed disease-free by the Port Health Authorities; NCDC to draft all its recent retirees back into service to beef up manpower.
“President Buhari directs the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment to work with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), to ensure that production of essential items such as food, medical and pharmaceutical products continues.
This came as Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire disclosed that government is using the window presented by the lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun States to detect, isolate and treat cases, considering that the incubation period of the virus is two to 12 days.
More Prominent Nigerians Reveal Status
As more prominent Nigerians continue to submit their samples for COVID-19 test, others who have gotten their results have made them public with the latest one being Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State.
A statement by the governor’s chief press secretary, Abba Anwar, revealed that the governor’s wife, Hajia Hafsat, also tested negative.
So far, Governors Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi States are the three governors who have tested positive to coronavirus.
Also, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu has tested negative to Coronavirus.
The Force Public Relations Officer DCP Frank Mba confirmed this in a statement saying the “IGP received the result of the test this morning, 31st March, 2020 having submitted samples on Friday, 27th March, 2020. Other officers who also tested negative include the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, the Principal Staff Officer to the IGP, DCP Idowu Owohunwa, Head of the Force Technical Intelligence Unit, DCP Lanre Ogunlowo, Personal Physician to the IGP, CSP (Dr) Nonye Welle, Medical Officer, Police Clinic, Force Headquarters, Abuja CSP (Dr) Titus Adegbite, Secretary to the IGP, SP Moses Jolugbo and five (5) other close aides to the IGP.”
It would be recalled that reports had suggested a couple of days ago that the police Chief may have been infected with the deadly virus, during his son’s wedding ceremony haven been in contact, with the chief of staff to the President Abba Kyari who tested positive for COVID19.
