The Nigerian Government on Monday announced the extension of the closure of airports in the country by two weeks.
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who disclosed this on Monday, said the decision was due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He tweeted, “COVID-19. As a result of the extension on lockdown by Mr. President it is no longer possible for us to open our airspace and airports for normal operations by the 23rd April, 2020.
“They will remain closed for a further two weeks. This subject to review as appropriate.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Monday said 38 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the last 24 hours, bringing total number of confirmed cases to 665.
The NCDC made this known on Monday night in the latest report posted on its verified twitter handle.
According to it, three new states- Gombe, Sokoto and Abia have joined states with reported cases of the virus, as the number of states with confirmed cases now reached 25.
The agency stated that of the 38 new cases from eight states, 23 were reported in Kano; five in Gombe; three in Kaduna; two in Borno, two also in Abia, while one each was recorded in FCT, Sokoto and Ekiti.
“As at 11:10p.m April 20, there are 665 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in the country, while 188 were treated and have been discharged, 22 deaths have been recorded.
“As of April 20, 11:10p.m, the active cases are 455 and majority of the active cases were in a stable condition,” it said.
The breakdown of cases by states were Lagos-376, FCT-89, Kano-59, Osun-20, Oyo-16, Edo-15, Ogun-12, Kwara-9, Katsina-12, Bauchi-7, Kaduna-9, AkwaIbom-9, Delta-4, Ekiti-4, Ondo-3, Enugu-2, Rivers-2, Niger-2, Benue-1, Anambra-1, Borno-3, Jigawa-2, Abia-2, Gombe-5 and Sokoto-1.
The agency said it would continue to respond to the pandemic across the country, adding it has prioritised the distribution of Viral Transport Medium (VTM) to all the states and FCT for sample collection.
NCDC said that it had deployed COVID-19 starter packs to all the tertiary health institutions and Federal Medical Centres.
It has also set up expanded laboratory network for COVID-19 across the six geopolitical zones with 13 laboratories activated (NRL, DRL, IDH, LUTH, NIMR, ACEGID, UCH, ISTH, FETHA, AKTH and NVRI, DNA and UMTH.
