Five new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Health, thus bringing to seven the official active cases of COVID-19 in the country.
A statement by the Ministry of Health said that all the newly discovered cases have a history of travel to the United States of America, and the United Kingdom, where over 1,000 cases each have been reported.
Health Minister, Osagie Ehanire, said that four of the new cases were discovered in Lagos and one in Ekiti State. A six-week-old baby, the youngest recorded so far in the country, is one of the new positive cases, while another one is the case of a foreigner who arrived the country through land border and is the first of such case.
Ehanire said, “We urge Nigerians to remain calm as public health response activities are intensified across the country.”
The discovery and announcement came on the wake of travel restrictions on travelers from 13 countries, including the USA and the UK.
Other countries hit by the Federal Government travel ban include: China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, Netherlands and Switzerland.
Also suspended is issuance of visa on arrival to travelers from the affected countries, where no less than at least 1,000 cases of coronavirus were confirmed within their borders.
The travel restrictions, takes effect from Friday, March 20, and is due for review after four weeks. This is just as all travelers returning from the affected countries, before the restrictions take effect will be in supervised self-isolation, to be monitored by the National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, and Port Health Services.
