From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

Afraid of a possible second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the Federal Government has directed all isolation centers closed due to low testing to reopen.

This is even as it has warned Nigerians to avoid necessary travels especially to high burden areas, warning that the virus will not go on holiday even though Nigerians are planning to go for the Christmas holiday.

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According to the Minister of Health,  Osagie Ehanire, “Everyone of us has a role to play in the effort to prevent explosive spread of this infection in Nigeria. While we strive for the best, we must prepare for a possible second wave which we must ensure, does not get to be worse than what we have seen so far, judging from what we observe in other countries.

“The US, UK and other countries are going through very difficult times, and we do sympathize with them. To prepare ourselves, I have directed that all Isolation and Treatment Centres, which were hiterto closed due to reduced patient load, to be prepared for reopening and the staff complement put on alert.

“The increase in infections stems certainly from rising community transmission to a large extent, but also to a less extent  from travelers entering Nigeria, among whom we have recorded 87 positive cases arriving to the country, as against 59 in the previous week. This number can increase as the volume of travelers rises, especially as people return home for the Christmas and New Year holidays. To ensure that we further contain imported cases, port health officers at points of entry have been directed to be vigilant and diligent in screening travelers arriving Nigeria, especially from high burden countries.”