As part of
the preparedness to prevent the importation of the Novel Coronavirus into
Nigeria, all
passengers onboard planes from Asian countries are to be screened
before they
are allowed into the country.
The Lagos
State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, who stated this
weekend,
said the State Ministry of Health is collaborating with the Federal Ports
Authority at
air, land and sea border posts to elevate screening and surveillance of
incoming
travelers since the reported outbreak of the Coronavirus in China, and
some other
countries.
“We are
making sure that all flights from South East, Asia that are coming either
direct or
connecting flights are checked thoroughly. We cannot isolate a particular
ethnic group
because the virus is more than an ethnic thing.
He said
since the Ebola outbreak, the State has been working on biosecurity due to
the
vulnerability of the State that has millions of people living in a very poor
environment
and had set up a committee while establishing a biosecurity law to
ensure
resilience.
Abayomi, who
spoke on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Lagos, said that the State’s
biosecurity
team was working with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH.
“This is to
build urgent capacity to identify the virus in the state’s Biosecurity facility
and
isolation wards situated at the Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, in
case of any
suspected carrier arriving in Lagos.
“We are in
touch with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, in Abuja to
align our
strategies with theirs,” he said.
Further, the
Commissioner said the State had instituted structures, policies and
human
resources that had boosted its resilience and ensured it handled any
infectious
diseases effectively.
“If we are
ever faced with any Ebola, Coronavirus entry into Lagos or Lassa fever
outbreak,
Lagos is constantly preparing itself and it is not a matter of reaction to the
crisis but
advance planning and strategic thinking,” he said.
He said that
the state was prepared to contain the virus, through active surveillance,
early
detection, isolation, case management, and prevention of the onward spread of
infection.
He blamed
the increasing cases of infectious disease spread between animals and
humans
around the world on human activities on the environment even said the
destruction
of the environment by humans was forcing wildlife into cities.
“I know in
Nigeria, there is a tendency that anything that moves must be killed and
eaten, we
have to try to move away from that.
“Apart from
the fact that these animals play an important role in the environment, not
everything
must be killed and eaten.”
Abayomi
warned that some species of animals harbour a lot of pathogens, which
could be
transmitted from animals to humans, saying that the same thing happened
with the
Ebola virus. He maintained that humans were encroaching into the wildlife,
thus
increasing contact with animals.
“The
situation exposes people to a lot of dangerous pathogens that had never been
seen before
like the Coronavirus and Ebola diseases.
“What
happened in China is that they eat some of this wildlife which has become part
of their
cuisines or they rear the animals, which is not too unusual from what we do
practice in
Nigeria.
“As we
humans are encroaching our boundaries and these animals are coming into
our houses and
feed on our food products like rice
“If you go
to some places, you will see bush meat. There are certain markets in
Lagos and
around Nigeria where if you want access to live, dead or smoked bush
meat, there
is enough.
Abayomi said
that the state would continue to sensitize the public and create
awareness
about preventive measures to adopt to safeguard their health.
He advised
residents to maintain a high level of personal and environmental hygiene
toward
safeguarding themselves from infectious diseases.
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