COVID-19: FG maintaining surveillance at entry points — Minister
The Federal Government on Monday said it is maintaining vigilance and a high level of preparedness at the entry points to prevent a fresh outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.
The FG made this known on Monday at the Federal Ministry of Health ministerial press briefing on COVID-19 and other development in the health sector.
Speaking at the briefing, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said the ministry has met with the World Health Organisation and the Embassy of China to review the resurgence of COVID-19 in China.
There is a resurgence of COVID-19 in China following the relaxation of the country’s zero-COVID policy, as well as significantly increased COVID-19 cases, admissions, and deaths in the United Kingdom and the United States of America over the past weeks driven partly by the usual winter exacerbations of respiratory illnesses.
Ehanire said, “About the development of COVID-19 resurgence in the republic of China, my ministry has been having discussions with the World Health Organisation with the senior officials of the ministry and we have had technical sessions to do a situation review and among those we spoke to are the representatives of the Embassy of China to give us an update on what is happening on COVID-19.
“The observed increase in number of cases in China, the USA and Europe is seasonal and it is not unexpected during the winter.
“So, the recent relaxation also affects the rising in cases with removal of travel restrictions.
“From what you know so far, not that there is a new variant but there are sub-variants and they are different.
“The Ministry of Health will continue to maintain vigilance and a high level of preparedness especially at our points of entry.
“The Ministry of Health will not hesitate to take necessary action.”
The Minister advised Nigerians to take necessary precautions, get vaccinated and use the facemasks when necessary.
“I want to encourage citizens to exercise the usual precautions. We are going to be advising people to wear masks in a crowded environment. If you are in an open environment, it is not necessary but this is an advisory, particularly, for those who have co-morbidities to make sure they wear a mask especially when you are in a closed environment with a large number of people there.
“If you are in an elevator and it is packed, you should wear your mask because you do not know the status of those who are there with you, whether they are infected or not.
“We are also urging frequent washing of hands and the use of sanitisers.
“We have not had increase in hospitalisation, but we are confident, so we are going to maintain vigilance to take precautionary measures.
“The most important of all is your vaccination. Observations so far are that those who take the vaccination are better protected and less likely to fall sick and those who have received boosters are even lesser to fall sick.
“The FMoH is also going to heighten the surveillance at the points of entry,” he added.
