The Honourable Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora has urged citizens especially those who are in doubt of the existence of COVID-19 in the country to at least take extra pre-caution in their daily activities to avoid being a victim of the disease.

The Minister made this counsel at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 Press Briefing held on Thursday, 25th June, 2020. He said that as the number of Covid-19 deaths continues to increase in Nigeria, citizens, especially those who are in doubt of the corona virus pandemic should take extra pre-caution in their daily activities.

Dr. Mamora reported that “We had 649 new confirmed cases bringing the total number of cases in the country to 22,020. We have so far successfully treated and discharged 7,613 persons while 542 deaths have been recorded.”

Continuing, the Minister stated that on Tuesday, 23rd June, 2020, an Emergency National Council on Health was held virtually, attended by State Commissioners of Health, Head of Agencies, Directors at the Federal Ministry of Health, Development Partners and other stakeholders in the health sector to review status and align all responses to COVID19 outbreak in States. “The Council approved the Health Sector COVID-19 Pandemic Response Action Plan which was developed by the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Departments and Agencies to present one response in the health sector delivered in a coordinated and strategic manner.”

The Minister said: “As we learn more about the disease, we continue to evolve response actions. The community transmission has resulted in the high number of confirmed cases with the challenge that in some States, the facilities for case management may become overwhelmed. Bearing in mind the importance of managing cases in facilities, the Federal Ministry of Health through the National Primary HealthCare Development Agency (NPHCDA) has developed a guideline for the establishment of Community Support Centres.”

Dr. Mamora informed that the central objective of the guideline is the establishment of Community Support Centres (CSCs) in selected clusters of Local Government Areas (LGAs) for the management of COVID-19 cases.

According to the Minister, those community support centres would strengthen the capacity of the health system at the community level to respond to the outbreak and result in the reduction of the transmission of COVID-19 within communities in high burden and high density States.

He therefore stated that Nigerians must be reminded daily of the challenges COVID-19 poses to the country and the world, and further reinforce our resolve to tackle the pandemic. “We can reduce case fatality in Nigeria, if non-pharmaceutical interventions are scaled up and we become more proactive in dealing with positive cases. We can scale up testing, tracing, treatment and isolation, with priority on offering more protection to elderly citizens and those with co-morbidities, from the threat of infection”, Dr. Mamora stated.