The Nigerian Government says it has recorded the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, 16th December 2020, since the virus was detected in February 2020.
Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire announced this in Abuja, at the National Joint Media briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Nigeria.
He said with a diagnosed 930 cases in a day, there’s every cause to worry.
“This is what we have warned against for many weeks, and it gives cause for concern, not only about the causes but also about the course of events as they unfold.”
“As the festive season and holidays approach, many people will want to celebrate, many will enter crowd shops, markets and places of worship, many plans to travel with mass transit transport, many even travel to Nigeria, from high burden countries.
“These are all circumstances that are proven around the world, to accelerate COVID-19 transmission and have caused explosive increases in cases in other countries.
“I urge all of you to stay where you are unless you have an urgent reason to travel and not to go visiting, unless absolutely necessary,” He warned.
Dr Ehanire further stated that following the new COVID-19 surge, the Ministry of Health is working with Federal Tertiary hospitals on reactivating treatment centres, assessing resources needed and available, and alerting health workers to be on standby.
“We are strengthening the COVID-19 home care treatment protocol for asymptomatic and mild cases and community-based care as designed by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency in management of asymptomatic, mild and moderate cases.
“We have also commenced inventory taking and we plan to distribute a wide range of resources from our warehouses, according to needs. These include PPEs, various commodities, equipment and consumables for deployment to treatment centres,” the minister added.
Suzan O
