The Federal Government will establish COVID-19 isolation centres at the country’s land borders.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, added that treatment centres would be sited at border areas to cater for Nigerians returning from neighbouring countries.
The minister also said government was concerned about the prevalence of COVID-19 in the neighbouring counties
He stated, “Prevalence of COVID-19 in neighbouring states is a new concern. There is a plan to build treatment centres near the legal entry borders. The borders are closed, but when Nigerian citizens turn up, they are allowed in.
“What we do is to take them to a facility where they can be isolated, screened and go through the protocol of 14 day observation before they are released. Those who are positive are taken to the isolation centres.”
Also, the federal government aims to conduct 4,000 COVID-19 tests every day.
The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu, who disclosed this on Tuesday during a briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, said 2,000 tests would be conducted in Lagos, 1,000 in Abuja and 1,000 in other parts of the country.
The NCDC director general on Tuesday recalled that the President Muhammadu Buhari, in his speech on Monday, said the public health response to COVID-19 was dependent on ability to detect, test and admit cases as well as trace all contacts.
Buhari had on Monday extended the 14 days lockdown he ordered in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun states on March 29 by another two weeks.
Ihekweazu said Nigeria had increased its laboratories for testing COVID-19 to 12, adding government would ensure every state had a lab.
