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General News of Saturday, 21 March 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

BREAKING: FG confirms 10 new cases in Lagos, Abuja

Three fresh coronavirus cases confirmed in Abuja Three fresh coronavirus cases confirmed in Abuja

At least 10 fresh coronavirus cases have been confirmed by the Federal government of Nigeria as of March 20, with three from the capital, Abuja.

As of Saturday morning, Nigeria has confirmed at least 12 coronavirus cases according to reports from the NCDC and Worldometer.

A statement from the President's personal assistant of new media, Bashir Ahmad, on Twitter, confirmed the 10 coronavirus cases with seven of them from Lagos.

He said, "the Federal Ministry of Health has just confirmed 10 new cases of #coronavirus in Nigeria. Of the 10 new cases, 3 are in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and 7 are in Lagos State."

Punch revealed that Abuja's index case is an official of the Federal Inland Revenue Service and was one of the passengers on the British Airways’ flight that landed on March 13, 2020.

A medical doctor told The PUNCH that the three patients had been moved to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital.

He said, “The bad news is that three samples from the FCT (Federal Capital Territory) suspected cases tested positive for coronavirus. We have got in touch with the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital and we are moving them immediately. We will give more details as soon as possible concerning their flights, contact tracing, and other protocols.

“COVID-19 is in Abuja now. One of the passengers on the British Airways’ flight works with the FIRS and he is among those who tested positive. His wife tested negative. We are hoping that all biometric sign-in at the FIRS headquarters in Wuse Zone 5 stops with immediate effect.”

A top source at the Federal Ministry of Health told The PUNCH that the case had been reported to the ministry.

He, however, said the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control would do its own testing before the public would be notified.

The official said, “Yes, we were notified on Friday about three cases by a hospital in Abuja. We are doing our own round of testing because we cannot rely on their own result and we don’t want to cause panic among Nigerians.

“The minister of health will make the official announcement once we are very sure.”

As of this moment, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Nigeria has risen to 22, according to Worldometer.