Nigeria recorded two new deaths from Coronavirus yesterday, thus bringing the total death so far in the country to four. The number of confirmed cases also rose to 210, from 190 on Thursday.

The deaths, according to a tweet from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control last night, were recorded in Lagos and Edo states.

The NCDC tweeted: “Two new deaths have been recorded in Lagos and Edo State. As at 10:30 pm, 3rd April, there are 210 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria. Twenty new cases of #COVID19 have been reported in Nigeria; 11 in Lagos, 3 in the FCT, 3 in Edo, 2 in Osun & 1 in Ondo.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, yesterday said government could extend the 14-day lockdown should Lagosians and residents of Abuja and Ogun State not behave themselves.

The minister, who is a member of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, disclosed this in Abuja when he featured in a forum to give an update on government efforts at containing the pandemic.

He said, “If we don’t behave ourselves, there is a likelihood that the lockdown will be extended, but if we behave ourselves, there might not be an extension and I hope we do so.

“If we stay at home for two weeks and we are doing everything we are supposed to do, we should be able to effectively contain the disease.
“Therefore, my appeal to Nigerians is that they should obey the directive on social distancing, personal hygiene and shun gatherings; after two weeks, we will resume our normal life.

“But if they think it is a joke, then we may have to stay at home more than the two weeks.”

The minister also disclosed that the Federal Government was planning to meet with indigenous manufacturers to discuss and facilitate the local production of Personal Protective Equipment, to enhance the fight against the coronavirus.

Mohammed said that the Minister of State for Health, Olorunnibe Mamora, and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Adeniyi Adebayo, would meet with the manufacturers on behalf of the government.

He said that the move had become necessary in view of the shortage of the equipment and the need to encourage and develop local manufacturing of medical equipment.
He said, “PPE is in short supply globally and we want to see how we can start manufacturing them locally.

“All over the world, people are making mask locally because there is a short supply of masks.

“Those ones we got from Jack Ma have been shared with the states.
“We call them starter packs and they contain masks and test kits. We have given them to states according to their needs. Naturally, Lagos got more because it is the epicenter of the virus.

“We are trying to source the PPE more locally, but one thing about PPE is that if you don’t get it right, you may lose more lives.”

The Minister also says the corpses of persons who died of COVID-19 cannot be claimed for burial.

He said such corpses would be handled by the ministry of health because they are contagious.

Ehanire Declines to Disclose Drugs Being Used for Treatment

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, yesterday declined to disclose the drugs being used, successfully, in treating COVID-19 patients in the country.

There are records to show that some patients have already been cured and discharged.

Ehanire, who spoke during the daily briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja yesterday, amid several fingers pointing at Chloroquine, said the most important thing was that people were getting treated and getting result.

He said revealing the name of the drugs being used could make people resort to self-treatment and possibly overdose.

Ehanire said: “The drug or drugs being used are matters of interest to doctors who are providing treatment. Doctors advise each other on which drugs they used and I believe as time goes on, they will compile a report on what worked and what didn’t work.

“As I said earlier, the treatment centres in Lagos are using certain drugs for clinical trial and they will be able to add from their experience to the body of knowledge and what worked and what didn’t work. You may have also read that some people suffered from chloroquine poisoning in Lagos because they thought this was the best way to treat themselves.

“It is not for you to go and purchase and treat yourself. So, I won’t advise anyone looking for the name of the drug when you are not even sure you have that sickness.”