Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari has revealed that his government made efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus into Nigeria.

The highly infectious coronavirus doesn’t respect borders, as it has spread across dozens of countries in less than 3 months after the first cases were reported in Wuhan, China.

Recently, Nigeria confirmed its first case after an Italian engineer who works in Nigeria returned from Milan.

Nearly 4 days later, President Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu, has finally issued a statement on behalf of the president.

“President Muhammadu Buhari notes with sadness, the recent confirmation of a case of Covid-19 infection in Lagos, Nigeria, Garba Shehu said.

“This was despite the ardent efforts of the government regarding preparedness and response measures put in place in our country’s borders and beyond.

“President Buhari, however, commends the Federal Ministry of Health and other relevant agencies whose diligence and efficiency enabled the case to be detected, diagnosed and isolated quickly, even while swift measures were taken to identify and follow up on those with whom the index patient came into contact.

Furthermore, the president urged Nigerians not to panic about the news of the first case of Covid-19, instead read useful WHO and NCDC preventive measures.

“President Buhari urges Nigerians not to panic about the news of this first case of Covid-19 in our country, as undue alarm would do us more harm than good,” Garba Shehu continued.

“Instead, Nigerians should strictly observe the advisories disseminated by the Ministry of Health, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the World Health Organisation (WHO), on the best way to prevent infection,” he added.

Read our post on how to protect yourself and loved ones from the new coronavirus.