The Minister of Health,Osagie Ehanire has said that the Covid-19 cases in the past week now fluctuates within 500–700 bracket with a total of 38,344 cases,15815 discharged and 813 fatalities while testing has improved.
Ehinare made this known during the Presidential Task Force briefing on Covid-19 on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that the exponentially increase in numbers showed that the rate of infection is rising and with that the risk of infection for citizens at all levels in society is very significant.
The Minister announced that so far the country has tested a total of 247,825 persons even as the Ministry of Health has dedicated itself to making sure that citizens got the best treatment and are well taken care of.
“In this respect I have received good testimony about some of our health institutions like the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital and University of Benin Teaching Hospital and I urge them to strive even higher for others to emulate. Nigeria expects the best from all our health institutions.
“But despite this,our focus is still on prevention being better and cheaper than cure.For what we know of Covid-19 so far,we cannot reduce infection rate significantly without adhering to the public health advisories such as appropriate wearing of face masks, physical distancing and avoiding crowded places” He said
Ehinare commended Nigerians who publicly declared their Covid-19 positive status and said they contributed immensely to building confidence in the health system.
“I must commend people of influence in society who tested positive for Covid-19 and came out publicly to declare it and entrust themselves to preschool treatment.They would do us a world of good by showing that there is no shame and no danger, and nothing to hide about Covid-19.They also contributed immensely to building confidence in the health system.”He said.
Ehanire disclosed that 59 molecular labs have been provided across the country while states are to get N100million each to boost response to Covid-19
