Connect with us
Advertisement

Nigeria News

80 International Passengers Tested Positive For COVID-19 – PTF Reveals

Published

on

Advertisement

The Federal Government of Nigeria on Tuesday, September 29 disclosed that no fewer than eighty (80) international travellers have tested positive to Coronavirus pandemic in the country.

The development was confirmed in a statement by the National Coordinator, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, Naija News understands.

Aliyu while speaking at the taskforce’s press briefing yesterday, revealed that the numbers were summed from the repeated COVID-19 test being conducted on international travellers after seven days of their arrival to the country.

Advertisement

According to the director, a significant number of 80 out of the 2,403 tests carried out when the exercise began returned positive. He noted that it happened despite the fact that the travellers who tested positive arrived in the country with a negative PCR test.

Aliyu said, “Of the 2,403 passengers that were tested in Lagos when we started the exercise, 80 were positive. Meanwhile, they had negative COVID-19 PCR test,”

According to the PTF coordinator, the repeated test would have been unnecessary if the country had “a system of enforcement of isolation such that everybody coming into the country self-isolated effectively for two weeks.”

Advertisement

He, however, admonished foreign passengers to pay to only laboratories on the travel portal of the government for their repeat tests. “No Federal Government agency is receiving these funds. The negotiation for the cost is between the state governments and the private labs themselves,” Aliyu reiterated.

“The charges range between N35,600 for the Kano portal which we are just about to operationalise to N50,400 for Lagos,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) on Tuesday evening, 29th September 2020, confirmed 187 new cases of Coronavirus disease infection in Nigeria.

Advertisement
Advertisement