NCDC DG says more coronavirus cases will be announced today

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, says more cases of coronavirus will be announced in Nigeria on Monday, March 23, 2020.

The NCDC boss said this during an interview on Channels Television early on Monday, noting that the agency is working hard to get the situation under control.

“We still have 30 cases but we will be reporting more cases later today. Definitely there will be more cases reported, and we have to brace ourselves for an evolving situation over the next few days as we work very hard to get the situation under control,” he said.

Nigeria has announced 30 positive cases of the virus, many of them returnees from high-risk countries (31 in all when added to the recent case of Atiku’s son); a situation that resulted in the freezing of international flights into the country last week.


Ihekweazu said the agency’s biggest challenge is tracking down returnees and monitoring how strictly they’re adhering to safety advise to self-isolate and watch for symptoms.

He said the agency is working round-the-clock, with many working 18 to 20 hours a day, and urged returning Nigerians to be responsible enough to adhere to instructions.

“The human resource requirement for the scale of work we’re required to do at the moment in the containment phase is incredible because every day the numbers of people coming in is increasing exponentially. And we cannot increase our work force exponentially,” he said.

All 30 of Nigeria’s cases have been restricted to five states – Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, FCT and Oyo. The first two cases have made full recoveries and been discharged.