Following the announcement of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in its usual manner on Twitter, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has questioned the accuracy of the information.
The NCDC had announced that 14 new cases had been confirmed in Nigeria, making it a total of 65 cases in which 12 of the new cases were discovered in Lagos while the remaining two were confirmed in the Abuja.
According to NCDC, six of the cases were detected on a vessel, three others were returning travellers into the country while the remaining case was a close contact of a confirmed case.
The NPA made known that the six cases reportedly detected in a vessel as stated by the NCDC was untrue as the Port Health had not recorded any such case. The agency went on to demand that details confirming the information should be shared such as the vessel the passengers boarded and the terminal or jetty as well.
Hello @NCDCgov. In respect to the 6 new cases that “were detected on a vessel” in Lagos, the Authority in collaboration with Port Health has not recorded any confirmed cases to date. https://t.co/Egi6pdrWeK
— Nigerian Ports (@nigerianports) March 26, 2020
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“In respect to the 6 new cases that “were detected on a vessel” in Lagos, the Authority in collaboration with Port Health has not recorded any confirmed cases to date. To enable verification and proper record keeping, kindly avail us with specific details on the name of the Vessel the passengers were on board, and the Terminal or Jetty where they berthed,” the NPA stated.
About NPA: The Nigerian Ports Authority is a federal government agency that governs and operates the ports of Nigeria. The agency controls ports across the country such as the Lagos Port Complex and Tin Can Island Port in Lagos; Calabar Port, Delta Port, Rivers Port at Port Harcourt, and Onne Port.