Coronavirus: High-risk states in Nigeria

WHO Technical Officer on Health Emergence Programme, Ms Dhamari Anidoo, on Friday listed some states in Nigeria that are highly prone to coronavirus infection.

The state’s includes: Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Delta, and Bayelsa.

She gave this hint at a media workshop organized to acquaint the media with terms and terminology in reporting the dreaded coronavirus.

According to her, Nigeria should strengthen surveillance at port health service officers on alert at points of entry; temperature screening, visual observation, primary screening forms distributed to airline operators; and planning and implementation of facility-level surveillance.

She also identified isolated points and treatment facilities in high-risk states.

In Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada needs equipment and in Lagos, IDH in Yaba.

She, however, stated that Nigeria has strengthened diagnostic testing capacity at National Reference Laboratory in Gaduwa, Abuja and at LUTH, Lagos currently being supported to implement testing.

Anidoo said WHO has identify 13 countries namely: (Algeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia) which due to their direct links or high volume of travel, to China need to increase their preparedness measures.

Saying, the top priority countries are WHO’s first areas of focus, but the organisation supports all countries in the region in their preparation efforts.