Hospitals across China are overwhelmed by an explosion of Covid cases following Beijing's decision to lift restrictions that kept the virus at bay but tanked its economy and sparked mass protests
AFP

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) met to discuss the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in China.

Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, the Director-General of the NCDC, took to Twitter to reveal this information and stated the health department will be closely monitoring the situation in the coming week.

He went on to say that necessary actions will be taken if need be.

"The COVID-19 EOC met on Dec. 31, 22. Going forward, we will continue to review the ongoing COVID-19 situation over the coming week," said Adetifa, as per Punch.

"At the next review, and if deemed necessary, a range of actions, not limited to enhanced surveillance of travelers at airports, may be implemented," he explained further.

According to Adetifa, Nigeria will respond to COVID-19 through continued surveillance of the virus, genomic surveillance of infected individuals, capacity for surge testing in areas with high numbers of infections, and vaccination.

He further stated that the travel restrictions enforced to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 had no health benefit and instead impacted individuals and businesses negatively.

"Recent experience in Nigeria with the arrival of omicron showed travel restrictions did not have any public health benefits but were disruptive for persons and businesses. COVID-19 has and continues to follow a different course (epidemiology in Nigeria and most of Africa)," Adetifa tweeted.

Adetifa advised Nigerians to take advantage of the government-provided vaccinations to protect themselves and their loved ones against the dangers of the virus. He also urged citizens to receive their primary vaccination, which can be two or a single vaccine dose, as soon as possible.

"If you have received two vaccine doses already, go get your booster," Adetifa said.

"If you have received one booster dose already, please go get your second booster dose. If you belong to any of the high-risk categories (old age, etc), kindly ensure you adhere to recommended public health safety measures – mask use, hand hygiene, and avoiding crowded spaces," he added.

Although other countries have imposed restrictions on travelers arriving from China due to a surge in COVID cases, the federal government of Nigeria has refrained from doing the same.

According to the government, there is no reason to believe that such restrictions are necessary at this time, Punch reported.

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