NEC urges continued precautions against COVID-19, Lassa fever, Cholera

The National Economic Council (NEC) has called for continued precautions from Nigerians to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Lassa fever and cholera in the country.

Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo briefed State House correspondents after the NEC meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The governor said that the director-general of National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) presented updates to the council on cases of COVID-19, Lassa fever and cholera across the country.

Obaseki said that NEC deliberated on the issue of healthcare in the country focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Presentation was made by the director-general of NCDC who informed NEC that as of date, we have tested over 251,000 cases and today, we have 23000 active cases and unfortunately, 3,116 have died as a result of COVID-19 in our country.

“He did emphasise that, even though the evidence from the last couple of days or weeks may seem to indicate a slight decline in the outbreak of COVID-19, the evidence is still too early for us to categorically say that the Omicron variant is going down.

“The director-general cautioned that people should still keep to pharmaceutical interventions and more importantly that citizens should be encouraged to get vaccinated.

“He also mentioned the outbreak of Lassa fever which has now spread beyond the endemic states of Edo, Ebonyi into other areas like Bauchi and Oyo,’’ the governor said.

Obaseki said that what the worrisome thing about the outbreak was that there were cases of health personnel who had died as a result of Lassa fever infections.

According to him, the situation is worrisome and health authorities are emphasising that Nigerians should take caution.

The governor said that NEC also called on Nigerians to improve the sanitary conditions of their water supply to curb cholera.

“Make sure that we have clean environments and we should activate Lassa fever testing laboratories,” he said.

He mentioned cholera which is spreading at very worrisome rate and advised that states and other relevant authorities should take the necessary precautions in improving sanitation standards, particularly water supply to stem the spread of cholera in the country.