Coronavirus: We are ready to contain disease if it breaks out in Nigeria - Health minister
- Osagie Ehanire, the minister of health, assures Nigerians that the health ministry in collaboration with the Lagos state government is well ready to contain the novel coronavirus if eventually the disease eventually breaks out in Nigeria
- Ehanire notes that Lagos state is ready to combat the virus as there are high readiness and awareness in the state
- The minister commends the Lagos state government for taking proactive steps to contain against the outbreak of any infectious disease in the state
Osagie Ehanire, the minister of health, has said the health ministry in collaboration with Lagos state, is well prepared and ready to contain the novel coronavirus disease if eventually, it breaks out in Nigeria.
The minister gave the assurance on Sunday, February 9, shortly after he inspected a health facility at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba in Lagos designated for the coronavirus victims, The Guardian reports.
Source: UGC
He said Lagos state was ready to combat the virus, as there was high readiness and awareness in the state.
“I can say that Lagos State is well prepared; there is a high level of readiness here, and also the awareness is there,” he said.
Enahire also commended the Lagos state government for taking proactive steps to contain against the outbreak of any infectious disease in the state.
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He said the level of preparedness put in place showed that the state had learnt lessons from the Ebola episode of 2014.
Meanwhile, the federal government said it plans to spend about N620m to prevent the outbreak of the viral coronavirus in Nigeria.
Osagie Ehanire, the minister of health made the disclosure when he addressed the Senate committee on health about what the ministry was doing to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus in Nigeria, Allure Vanguard reports.
The minister said the ministry of health had already submitted a memo for the release of the sum of N620m to take proactive measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Ehanire noted the ministry has already held a meeting to deploy port health services to screen all passengers coming into Nigeria.
In another report, the lawmaker representing Anambra South senatorial district at the ninth Senate, Ifeanyi Ubah, has said the illegal exportation of facial masks to China from Nigeria is currently booming.
The Cable reports that Ubah said over 100 million face masks have been illegally exported to China since the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease.
Speaking on Thursday, February 6, while moving a motion entitled “Urgent need to checkmate unpatriotic profiteering and illegal exportation of face masks to Asia”, the senator said the exportation of these masks have led to the hike in the price of the item.
Still on health, the Kogi state Ministry of Health has confirmed nine cases of Lassa fever with four deaths recorded since the outbreak of the deadly disease in the state about a month ago.
Dr Austin Ojotule, the State Epidemiologist, disclosed this in statement in Lokoja on Sunday.
According to Ojotule, the state’s statistics on Lassa fever outbreak update as at Febuary 8, 2020, has a total of 31 suspected cases. He said out of the 31 suspected cases of Lassa fever, one was probable, 17 negative, nine confirmed, while five had pending laboratory results.
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