Federal Govt Bans Inter-State Movement Of COVID-19 Patients
"All persons diagnosed with the virus will henceforth be treated in the state where their diagnosis was made to avoid further spread of infection," Dr Osagie Ehanire stated.
Joy Kalu 
The Federal Government has banned the inter-state movement of coronavirus patients in the country.
Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said this on Wednesday in Abuja, at the Presidential Taskforce, briefing on COVID-19.
Ehanire said that “all persons diagnosed with the virus will henceforth be treated in the state where their diagnosis was made to avoid further spread of infection”.
He stated that Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors and Pharmacists should refrain from attempting to treat COVID-19 patients, otherwise their operating licences would be revoked.
He noted that the Federal Ministry of Health has deployed the Chief Consultant Epidemiologist, Public Health Department of Kano State, and 16 staff of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to Kano State to carry out investigations on the recent number of deaths in the state as well identify the peculiarities.
The minister stated that private hospitals desiring to manage COVID-19 patients should apply to their state Ministries of Health for a permit, meet the Infection Prevention and Control standards and get accredited by the state accreditation team in line with FMOH guidelines.
Ehanire stressed that those with existing medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease, TB, HIV, cancer; should take special care and also obey the instructions on taking special care.
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He added that “Government is interested in remedies that are being proposed. The Ministry of Health has a department for ‘Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine’, so anything that is thought to have efficacy should be brought forward.
“Now we are in the community transmission phase and we have passed that era when people think that COVID-19 was something for big men and women who came from abroad.
“Now that it is in the grassroots, the role of the Primary Healthcare now comes to play and it is very important for them to do the surveillance to raise the index of suspicion."
The Minister noted that Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) have been deployed to Abia, Gombe and Sokoto states by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to support the COVID-19 response.
Ehanire noted that active case finding was ongoing in communities with evidence of person – person transmission.
