President Muhammadu Buhari has warned against unnecessary panic over the confirmation last week of a case of coronavirus (Covid-19) infection reported in Lagos State. According to the President, undue alarm would do us more harm than good.
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Sunday, President Buhari counselled Nigerians to instead strictly observe the advisories disseminated by the Ministry of Health, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the best way to prevent infection.
The president commended the Federal Ministry of Health and other relevant agencies whose diligence and efficiency he said enabled the case to be swiftly detected along with the measures being taken to identify and follow up on those with whom the index patient had contact with.
While also commending the responses of the governments of Lagos and Ogun states, the president called for vigilance on the part of all citizens and responsible government agencies in order to quickly contain the spread of the infection.
It would be recalled that the carrier of the deadly virus, a 44-year-old Italian citizen, arrived Nigeria on Monday last week while the infection was detected on Friday in Ogun State in spite of efforts of the federal government regarding preparedness and response measures.
Although that is the only confirmed case in Nigeria for now, contract tracing has been intensified by the government to quarantine those who had been in contact with the Italian.
Global death toll rises
As at Monday morning, the total number of global fatality as a result of the coronavirus infection has exceeded 3,000, while over 90,000 confirmed cases have been reported globally.
Although the pandemic began in China, which has the highest number of cases, however in the last two weeks, the rate of infection has slowed in China and started rising in other parts of the world. China on Monday reported 42 more deaths. Currently, more than 90 per cent of the total deaths are in Hubei, the Chinese province where the virus emerged late last year.
The new hotspots for the disease are Italy with over 30 deaths , Iran with over 50 deaths, South Korea with 7 deaths and the United States of America with 2 reported fatalitie
