Coronavirus: FG Steps Up Surveillance at Airports, Creates Isolation Centres

Ololade Adeyanju/

The Federal Government today said it has stepped up the screening of inbound passengers for the coronavirus at all international airports in the country.

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, disclosed this at a media briefing in Abuja to announce the detection of five new coronavirus cases in the country.

Ehanire said two new screening levels, primary and secondary, are now in place at the airports.

He said the primary screening which, involves temperature check and visual examination, are done for all arriving passengers without exemption.

He said any passenger with temperature of 38 degrees centigrade and above or is looking unwell, will be moved on to the secondary screening.

According to the minister, the secondary screening involves confirmatory temperature check and full examination by medical staff.

At this stage, any passenger that shows symptoms consistent with coronavirus will be transferred to a designated isolation facility, he added.

The minister disclosed that the government is also putting greater emphasis on biodata collection and verification, including numbers, contact details and other relevant information about arriving passengers.

He said the health ministry is also increasing collaboration with the Nigerian Customs Service and the Nigerian Immigration Service to protect all borders, especially land borders.

Ehanire further noted, “Nigeria is in the Importation stage of COVID-19, not the Community Transmission Stage. That is why we are very focused on Contact Tracing at this time.”

“The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control is doing a great job supporting State Health Authorities with tracking and tracing,” he added.

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