The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, is currently quarantined for possible infection of the deadly Coronavirus.
Ihekweazu was quarantined shortly after his return from China to Nigeria.
Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, who made this known when he briefed the Senate leadership on the level of preparedness by the Ministry, said the NCDC Director-General will remain in quarantine in one of the rooms in his house for 14 days.
The NCDC boss had visited China on the request of the Chinese Government to understudy and conduct research on the behavioural pattern of Coronavirus.
He was immediately quarantined as soon as he returned into the country.
The Health Minister said the action was in line with the safety proceedures by the Federal Ministry of Health.
On Nigeria’s level of preparedness, the Minister said the Ministry has established isolation centres in four cities where Nigeria has international airports.
The cities are Lagos, Abuja, Kano, and Port Harcourt.
He said these were in addition to scanners discretely mounted at the 4 airports that capture body temperature without the passengers being aware.
Speaking, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, expressed concern about the idea of having only isolation centres.
He called on the Federal Ministry of Health to immediately “step up” the plan to create more isolation centres in all the states of the federation or at least having one in each of the six geo-political zones.
“We need to do something dramatic”, he said.
Lawan also queried arrangement by the Federal Ministry of Health to set up additional isolation centres in four teaching hospitals.
This was as the Chairman Senate Committee on Public Health, Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe called for the establishment of permanent standard isolation centres in the country to respond to emergency.
The Federal Government has so far released N600 million to prevent an outbreak of Coronavirus disease in Nigeria but a federal Lawmaker, Chukwuka Utazi (PDP) representing Enugu North, said the amount is too little to count.
He, therefore, called on government to immediately release N1 billion to the Federal Ministry of Health.
[…] had said, “Chikwe had gone (to China) and come back and has done the test. It is negative, but we have insisted that he must undergo the 14-day of quarantine which is why he is not […]
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