The Federal Ministry of Health has announced 5 new cases of Coronavirus disease (COVID19) in Nigeria, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 8.
According to the Ministry, all 5 new cases had a travel history to the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US).
A detailed travel history of each case is being compiled and contact tracing has begun for the 5 new cases, TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) learnt.
“I regret to announce the confirmation of 5 new #COVID19 cases in #Nigeria bringing the total no. of confirmed cases to 8,” Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire tweeted.
“We have intensified contact tracing for these cases to control the risk of spread and @NCDCGov is already supporting the response efforts,” he added.
I regret to announce the confirmation of 5 new #COVID19 cases in #Nigeria bringing the total no. of confirmed cases to 8
We have intensified contact tracing for these cases to control the risk of spread and @NCDCGov is already supporting the response efforts pic.twitter.com/pJNaU2KLln
— Dr. E. Osagie Ehanire MD, FWACS (@DrEOEhanire) March 18, 2020
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To contain the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the Nigerian government had earlier issued travel ban on 13 countries, including the UK and the US.
Nigeria restricted entry into the country for travellers from the following countries: China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, U.S, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Switzerland.
“These are all countries with over 1,000 cases domestically,” the government said, while also temporarily suspending all visas issued to nationals from these countries, adding, “Nigerians arriving from these countries will be subjected to supervised isolation for 14 days”.