Meanwhile, addressing complaints about the directives that returning Nigerians from abroad must pay N290,000 for their isolation and feeding ahead of evacuation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said the government had no resources to foot the bill.
He explained that the citizens could not be housed at the National Youth Service orientation camps or school dormitories because each person had to be accommodated in a room and the only option was to keep them in hotels, noting that the best room rate in Abuja was N15,000.
The FG had on Thursday directed all its embassies not to airlift any Nigerian who did not pay for his quarantine and feeding ahead of the evacuation.
But addressing the development, the minister stated, “This is not by any stretch of imagination something the government is happy to do. As I mentioned, if the resources were there, we would evacuate everybody.”
He explained that 620 persons had been evacuated and quarantined, adding that the government was expending resources in managing them.
250 nurses/midwives in isolation, 85 positive, NANNM laments
Also on Friday, the leadership of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives decried the rising cases of health workers testing positive for coronavirus in the country.
The President of the association, Mr Abdurafiu Adeniji, spoke in Abuja at a press conference to commemorate the 2020 International Nurses Week entitled, ‘Nurses: A Voice to Lead-Nursing the World to Health’.
He said data from the NANNM COVID-19 Situation Report Room revealed that “Almost 1,000 nurses and midwives have been exposed to coronavirus, out of which about 250 are currently on isolation and about 85 out of about 600 have tested positive.
“Over 2,000 Nigerian healthcare professionals, especially nurses and doctors have tested positive to COVID-19 while about 15 healthcare professionals have lost their lives.”
He attributed the rising cases of coronavirus infection among nurses and midwives to the lack of adequate knowledge on how to use Personal Protective Equipment while attending to infected patients.
He said the nation’s health care system had been overstretched and on the verge of being overwhelmed, while calling on health workers to pay attention to their personal safety while attending to COVID-19 patients.
“The WHO prescription is 40 nurses per 100,000 population, but Nigeria is operating five to six nurses to 100,000 population,” he added.
Intervene in Kogi, Cross River obstruction to NCDC, NMA tells Buhari
The Nigerian Medical Association has called on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to urgently intervene in the inability of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to carry out COVID-19 tests in Kogi and Cross River states.
The association described the situation as unfortunate and condemnable.
The governments of Kogi and Cross River states had insisted that they would quarantine for 14 days the NCDC members of staff to be deployed in their states to carry out the test.
The NMA in a statement signed by the President, Dr Francis Faduyile, and the Secretary General, Dr Olumuyiwa Odusote, on Friday, pointed out that the NCDC was empowered by law to control activities and programmes for the national response against infectious diseases and public health emergencies.
The association also said the revamping of abandoned General Hospitals and Primary Health Care Centres would mitigate the challenges with home treatment and acute shortage of bed spaces.
14,000 test kits arrive Lagos airport amid scarcity
A total of 14,000 units of test kits on Friday arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos amid the prevailing scarcity in the country.
The private sector-led Coalition Against COVID-19 had last month ordered for 400,000 units of test and extraction kits to fast-track molecular testing for the deadly coronavirus.
Scarcity of test kits had slowed down testing in Lagos, Abuja and some other parts of the country.
Officials of CACOVID-19 told Saturday PUNCH that 14,000 units of test kits arrived the country and were cleared at the Lagos airport on Friday, adding that the 14,000 kits would be handed over to the NCDC on Saturday (today).
The Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe, who is a member of the private sector-led coalition, confirmed the development to one of our correspondents.
He said the 14,000 units of test kits were part of the 400,000 units recently ordered by CACOVID-19.
Benue COVID-19 index case threatens legal action
The COVID-19 index case in Benue State, Mrs Susan Idoko-Okpe, has threatened to institute a legal action against the Federal Government and its relevant agencies unless she is released from isolation centre where she says she has been detained for 53 days.
She issued the threat through her lawyer, Mr Stephen Eke, who addressed a press conference in Abuja on Friday.
Eke who insisted that his client had not tested positive for COVID-19, contended that her alleged continued detention at the isolation centre was a violation of her fundamental human rights.
