The Federal Government has urged Nigerians not to panic over new cases of coronavirus in the country.
The Federal Ministry of Health confirmed five new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country on Wednesday morning, but the minister of health said there was no reason to panic.
These new five cases bring the total number of confirmed cases in Nigeria to eight.
Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire said that the national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), led by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and supported by partners, was supporting response in the states.
He said that the Presidential Task Force for the Control of Coronavirus (COVID-19), yesterday announced the prohibition of all travel by public servants and
suspension of the visa on arrival policy till further notice.
Dr Ehanire said the task force also announced that all persons returning from overseas should self-isolate for observation for 14-days, even if they felt well.
About the new cases
Daily Trust learnt that four of the cases are in Lagos while one is in Ekiti state.
Dr Ehanire said that three of the new cases arrived from the United States, while two came in from the United Kingdom.
He said: “We are still collating information on the travellers; two of the three from the US are Nigerian, a mother and child, making the six week old baby the youngest COVID-19 patient we have, and the 3rd is an American national, who crossed the land border and becomes the first COVID-19 case not arriving by air.”
He added that the two cases from the United Kingdom were Nigerians.
The minister said a detailed travel history of each person was being compiled and that contacts were currently being traced to identify persons who had recently been in contact with them.
Earlier cases
Nigeria had three confirmed cases of coronavirus before Wednesday.
On Tuesday, a Nigerian woman, who returned from the United Kingdom on March 13th was confirmed to have the virus.
The second case of the virus was one of the persons who had close contact with the first reported case- an Italian engineer.
The Italian citizen, who works in Nigeria, returned from Milan, Italy to Lagos on the 25th of February with the virus.
FG takes step
The Federal Government has banned entry into the country for travellers from 13 countries with high number of coronavirus cases.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha said the countries are; China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland.
The SGF said the restrictions will come into effect from Saturday, 21st March, 2020 for four weeks subject to review.
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