Dr Sani Aliyu, Coordinator, Presidential Task Force (PTF), has said that Plateau State is now the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) hot centre as more cases are being confirmed in the North-Central state.
Aliyu, who spoke at the PTF daily briefing on Monday in Abuja, said that the state was leading in confirmed cases because it was testing more.
He advised other states to conduct more tests like Lagos and Plateau to be able to get the positive cases and treat them fast.
“We are seeing a gradual shift in the areas of high infection burden, with Plateau reporting the highest number of confirmed cases.
“Of course, this can be related to increased testing by citizens of the state.
“However, we also need to look at the flip side that there are a number of highly undetected cases lying around which we need to discover and deal with early, “ he said.
On the planned resumption of international flights, he said that incoming passengers would be required to be certified COVID-19 negative very close to departure date.
He said that they would also be required to undergo another COVID-19 test eight days after arrival in Nigeria.
Aliyu said that the other requirements included registration on the Nigeria International Travel Portal where payment for the second test would be made, and filling of health declaration form online.
The coordinator warned that any passenger who would fail to comply with a second COVID-19 test in Nigeria would risk ban for six months.
He added that the person would be blacklisted by the Nigeria Immigrated Service and security agencies, and face some other punishments.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 143 new cases of COVID-19 in the country, bringing the nation’s total infections to 54,008.
The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle on Monday.
The health Agency said that 143 cases were confirmed from 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), taking the number of confirmed cases to 54,008 in the country.
It revealed that Plateau again had the highest number of infections of 35, while Kaduna had 21 with Lagos and FCT recording 19 and 13 cases respectively.
Others were Ebonyi (9), Adamawa (7), Enugu (7), Katsina (7), Edo (6), Kwara (5), Osun (3), Anambra (2), Kano (2), Niger (2), Ogun (2), Benue (1), Borno (1) and Sokoto (1).
The NCDC said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, had continued to coordinate the national response activities across the country.
It stated that no fatality was recorded as at Monday.
The health agency said that till date, 54,008 cases had been confirmed, 41,638 cases discharged and 1,013 deaths recorded in 36 states and FCT.
It said even younger persons were at risk of COVID-19, especially those with underlying health conditions.
“Let’s continue to take responsibility; wear a face mask in public, practise hand/respiratory hygiene and maintain physical distance,” it said.
