The federal government has ordered all staff of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) currently training abroad to return home.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, who stated this while addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, also said Lagos State was currently the epicentre of COVlD-l 9 outbreak in Nigeria, with its increasing number of cases.
He said that the federal government had directed the Nigeria Air Force Command to facilitate the return of the NCDC staff since they were needed in the current campaign against the spread of the Coronavirus.
According to the minister, health facilities and health workers at all levels, whether public or private, have been put on high alert and to give full cooperation to contact tracers everywhere.
The minister said the Lagos State government and the Federal Ministry of Health were doing very commendable work. “They have scaled-up their response activities and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is supporting them, as well as other affected states through the Rapid Response Teams deployed.”
Also, he said that precautionary measures were being taken by the federal government to protect the nation’s seaports, adding that currently, only ships that have been at sea for more than 14 days can dock, after crew members have been confirmed negative for COVID-t 9.
“An exception to this 14-day restriction is for vessels carrying oil and gas products as they require minimal contact,” he said.
On the issue of increasing the number of testing centres for Coronavirus, the minister said that federal government will upgrade the facilities at the medical laboratories in the Teaching Hospitals in Abakaliki, Ibadan and Maidugiri to national reference laboratories.
