The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) has announced plans to reduce case fatalities of the Covid-19 pandemic by focusing on improving the capability to manage the virus.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, during the daily Joint National Briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 in Abuja.

The Minister said that the ministry plans to increase its capacity to battle the disease through personnel supervision.

He said, “We hope to reduce case fatalities by strengthening our capacity to manage cases, but it is only possible if persons test themselves early. All cases, whether home-based or institutional are to be supervised by medical personnel. This is particularly  important, given the threat posed by the spiralling rate of infection in countries with which Nigeria has strong political, business, social, and family relations.”

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He urged Nigerians to cut off travel to high-risk countries, as the travel rate determines the risk the ministry could contain with.

“There is a correspondingly high volume of travel between Nigeria and those countries, which is what also determines the risk. I also urge all Nigerians to cut off all travels, especially international travels, most especially travels to high risk countries, except it is very urgent.”

He stated that it might take Nigeria a while before securing the vaccines, even though the country had started the process of securing access to a vaccine.

“Although we are positioning our country for access to the Covid-19 vaccine, it may still take a while for countries to access it and for all citizens to be vaccinated. It is, therefore, more realistic that we adopt preventive measures which have proven to be successful in controlling the pandemic,” Ehanire added.

What you should know: Nairametrics reported in October that Dr. Ehanire said Nigeria increased its daily testing capacity for Covid-19 to over 3,500/day.

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to record significant increases as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 67,557 confirmed cases.

On the 30th of November 2020, 145 new confirmed cases were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 7,101 samples across the country.

To date, 67,557 cases have been confirmed, 63,282 cases have been discharged and 1,173 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 756,237 tests have been carried out as of November 30th, 2020 compared to 749,136 tests a day earlier.

COVID-19 Case Updates- 30th November 2020,

• Total Number of Cases – 67,557
• Total Number Discharged – 63,282
• Total Deaths – 1,173
• Total Tests Carried out – 756,237

According to the NCDC, the 145 new cases were reported from 8 states- Lagos (49), FCT (34), Kaduna (34), Plateau (11), Oyo (7), Bayelsa (5), Taraba (4), and Sokoto (1).

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 23,287, followed by Abuja (6,804), Plateau (3,869), Oyo (3,728), Kaduna (3,098), Rivers (2,985), Edo (2,696), Ogun (2,223), Delta (1,824), Kano (1,795), Ondo (1,728), Enugu (1,332),  Kwara (1,102), Ebonyi (1,055), Katsina (1,030), Osun (946), Gombe (938). Abia (926), Bauchi (770), and Borno (745).

Imo State has recorded 662 cases, Benue (496), Nasarawa (493), Bayelsa (450),  Ekiti (365), Akwa Ibom (339), Jigawa (331), Niger (298), Anambra (285), Adamawa (261), Sokoto (166), Taraba (163), Yobe (100), Kebbi (93), Cross River (90), Zamfara (79), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.

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Lock Down and Curfew

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020. Also, on Monday 27th July 2020, the federal government extended the second phase of eased lockdown by an additional one week.

On Thursday, 6th August 2020 the federal government through the secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 announced the extension of the second phase of eased lockdown by another four (4) weeks.

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The Victims Support Fund (VSF), a foundation for supporting victims of terrorism has announced that the launch of a N3.3 billion COVID-19 intervention fund, targeting one million households most affected by the pandemic in Nigeria.

This was disclosed by Mrs. Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsuji, Chairperson, VSF Task Force on COVID-19, on Saturday in Kano.

Mrs. Akerele-Ogunsuji disclosed on Saturday that VSF has already spent N1.8 billion in the first phase of its COVID-19 intervention through the provision of food and other relief materials, adding that N832 million was spent under the second phase of the programme.

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She added that for the 3rd phase of the scheme, N1.3 billion will be spent until the end of the year.

“The total amount will be around N3.3 billion. It includes the money spent on the provision of 54 solar powered boreholes installed in schools across 18 states in the six geo-political zones of the county.

“The VSF is also donating 60, 000 pieces of COVID-19 rapid test kits to support opening of the orientation camps of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the coming weeks.

READ: Nigeria spends N8 billion annually to import vaccines 

“We are targeting indigent and vulnerables households in the country, that is very important to us, and by the time we have done this intervention we will have over one million individuals who have been touched by the VSF interventions,” she said.

She also revealed that the fund has also provided medical items and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to healthcare workers, in 16 of the 30 states in the six geo-political zones of the country.

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What you should know 

Victims Support Fund, joins other private and public sector initiatives including the  Coalition Alliance Against COVID-19 CACOVID which the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revealed has so far incurred an expenditure of N43.27billion on the acquisition of, not only medical equipment and supplies but also food palliatives for vulnerable Nigerians.

READ: Terrorism: Nigeria records 39.1% reduction in deaths – GTI Report

Nairametrics reported that CACOVID  announced plans to deploy over N150 billion towards the setting up and implementation of a youth development programme. It also announced they have budgeted nothing less than N250 billion to rehabilitate damaged police stations across the country and solve the issue of unemployment.