COVID-19: Niger quarantines seven persons, warns residents not to travel out

At least seven seven persons from Minna and Suleja local government areas have been quarantined by the Niger state Government after being suspected to have had contact with confirmed cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
While addressing journalists after a post-State Executive Council meeting on Tuesday, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mohammed Makun Sidi, who was fully masked, said out of the seven suspected cases, one is in Suleja and the other six are in Minna, the state capital.
According to Sidi: “Among the six people in Minna, one came from the United Kingdom and the other five had handshake with a confirmed case who visited Minna and left.
“For the suspect who came from from the UK, we got information from when he boarded and we already knew he was coming to Niger State and when he arrived on Monday by 9am, we quickly got him and also those that had handshake with him since he arrived.
“We have placed them on a 14-day quarantine.
“They will be in isolation pending when our team monitoring them will come up with the final result.
“But for now, there is no case of COVID-19 in Niger State.”
Sidi further stated the Government has swung into action as regards a post by a student of Federal University of Technology, Minna, who claimed to have met with his friends at a night club in Gwada town in Shiroro Local Government Area, adding that he met with his aunty, a suspected case in Lagos, before arriving Niger State.
The unidentified student, whose post had gone viral begging the government to help save his friends whom they partied together, had since returned to Lagos State, where he claimed he is currently battling to stay alive.
The Commissioner, while charging residents to remain within the state and not travel to areas already on red alert, warned that the State is more prone to the spread of the disease because of its proximity to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Sidi further disclosed that the government has approved N100 million to combat the spread of the disease, with Secretary to the State Government, Ibrahim Ahmed Matane, as Chairman of the 28-man COVID-19 task force set up to ensure adherence and control of the disease.