General News
By Anthony Isibor
OSAGIE Ehanire, minister of health, has advised Nigerians to learn from the mistakes of other countries experiencing a third wave of the covid-19 pandemic
He made his known on Monday, April 26, 2021, while speaking at the weekly press briefing of the Presidential Steering Committee on Covid-19.
The minister, who put Nigerians Covid-19 case fatality ratio with 1.25% as below average, having recorded a total of 20,062 deaths, from 164,719 confirmed cases with 1,912,628 tests carried out.
While he agreed that Nigeria’s best efforts at prevention are to improve vigilance at points on entry, adhere to non-pharmaceutical measures, increase testing and tracing, along with vaccination deployment surge. We are also considering other measures and testing strategies tailored to mitigate risks of importation of virulent strains, he also said that the Nigerian government will continue to learn from the mistakes of other countries and will not relent in her efforts towards achieving a safe society irrespective of the progress made so far.
“Although the number of cases is still low compared to other parts of the world, we are careful not at all to declare success, because the experience of other countries warns us of the unpredictable pattern of Covid19 resurgence.
“Study of developments in places like Turkey, India, Thailand, and Brazil, with severe disease and high fatality ratios, help us to recalibrate our response, and we are worried by what we see, even in countries with strong health systems, or those who have in fact vaccinated up to 25% of their population,” he said.
He said that India, which is similar to Nigeria in terms of demography, was currently experiencing a third wave of the pandemic and just lost over 2800 people in a single day due to the covid-19 virus mutation.
“The cases in India and Turkey are of particular concern to us, due to the demographic similarities with Nigeria and the fact that they are currently experiencing serious 3rd wave infections, fuelled by viruses arising from mutation. Over 2,800 Indians were lost yesterday (Sunday) alone, more than they suffered on any day in the 1st and 2nd waves, and more than the total that Nigeria has ever lost on record.
“We must take their plight as a strong warning to us to do away with our complacency and overconfidence and brace ourselves for a 3rd covid19 wave. Our slogan at the ministry of health is: strive for the best, prepare for the worst. To be forewarned is to be forearmed,” he said.
He said that “Not only vaccine hesitancy is responsible, but insufficient compliance with public health advisories, such as social distancing and wearing of face masks.
“It is known that Indian authorities put out a call for citizens to restrict movement and gatherings during a recent religious ceremony, which did not seem to have received wide adherence.
“I suspect there would have been better compliance had a hint of present fallout been known.
“We must take or support all measures to prevent loss of lives. Though vaccination has indeed started in Nigeria, we must continue with non-pharmaceutical measures and ensure that at least 70% of citizens are fully vaccinated. I, therefore, call on all who are eligible for vaccines to register at the NPHCDA portal and follow instructions for vaccination.
“In addition to scaling up vaccination, we scaled up surveillance at our points of entry, to reduce the risk of importation of coronavirus variants said to be more contagious and virulent. These variants are suspected to be behind the surging Covid19 cases in Asia and the Americas.
“In this connection, citizens are strongly advised to defer all non-vital travel to known high burden countries, until their epidemiological situations improve,” he said.
– April 29, 2021 @ 16:49 GMT
A.I
Tags: NPHCDA Osagie Ehanire
