As the new coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the world, the Nigerian government has revealed that the country’s strategy for the control of the disease is targeted at the points of entry into the country. This was revealed by health minister, Dr. Osagie Ehanire.
Ehanire revealed that Nigeria has the capacity to detect and respond to the coronavirus if it is imported into the country.
He said: “While the risk of importation exists, we can assure Nigerians of the nation’s capacity to detect, assess and respond to this and other public health threats at the point of entry.”
While nearly 10,000 confirmed cases of the disease had been reported mostly in mainland China, about 100 cases have also been reported in other parts of the world.
healthnews.ng recently reported that the WHO DG declared the novel coronavirus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
“There have been no confirmed cases in Africa but the potential has been clearly demonstrated,” the minister added.
Daily Trust reported that Ehanire said the meeting was convened to discuss strategies for the prevention and importation of the coronavirus into Nigeria and the joint response in the event its identification in the country to ensure its containment.
According to him, the federal government had approved N71 million to increase services of the Port Health Services unit of the Federal Ministry of Health , adding that the unit was currently implementing measures at all legal borders to prevent importation of the virus.
Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the government would not ban Nigerians from travelling to China because of the outbreak.
“Right now we are working together at an Inter-ministerial level to be able to contain the epidemic. What will do is to give travel advisories, that if it is not very essential to travel to South East China, do not make such trips. But you know it is very difficult to ban people from traveling,” he said.
According to him, the Nigerian Embassy in China had confirmed that there were 16 Nigerians in Wuhan and that it was in touch with them, saying that none of them had indicated any intention to come home yet.