Beware of fake COVID-19 Certificates, Lagos govt tells travellers

The Lagos state government has cautioned international travellers to beware of fake COVID-19 result certificates being sold to some inbound travellers.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi raised the alarm at a press briefing on Monday in Lagos.

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He said, “Positivity for inbound travellers is on the rise as Nigerians in the Diaspora return to spend Christmas in Lagos.

“It has come to our attention that a number of people are patronising individuals that sell fake COVID-19 results.

“We are currently putting in processes to identify both buyers and sellers, and we will not hesitate to prosecute them,” Abayomi said.

Nigeria, like other countries of the World is currently experiencing the second wave of COVID-19 as not less than 20 medical doctors reportedly died from the virus last week.

Recently, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has also given out protocol for all passengers originating from United Kingdom and South Africa due to the highly transmissible new variant of the virus in the two countries.

838 new infections, 7 deaths

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 838 new cases of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in the country.
The centre announced this on its verified website on Sunday.

925,215 persons have been tested since the first confirmed case of the virus was announced on Feb, 27 2020.

According to the centre, the country has recorded a total of 84,414 cases and 1,254 fatalities since the pandemic began.

The health agency also confirmed the discharge of 539 patients from isolation centres across the country, bringing the total recoveries to 71,034.

NCDC explained that the 838 new cases were reported in 15 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

It added that FCT reported the highest number of new infections with 297 cases, while Lagos state, the epicentre of the virus in the country reported 253 new infections.
Lagos state has now recorded a total of 28,741 infections.
The other states with new infections are Plateau-82, Kaduna-57, Katsina-32, Nasarawa-31, Kano-25, Gombe-24, Oyo-8, Rivers-8, Zamfara-7, Ogun-4, Bauchi-4, Edo-4, Anambra-1, and Sokoto-1.

According to NCDC, a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, continues to coordinate the national response activities.
It said that as of Dec. 27, 2020, 838 new confirmed cases and seven deaths were recorded in the country.

Till date, 84,414 infections have been confirmed, while 71,034 cases have been discharged, just as 1,254 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and FCT.